NECO to Investigate 40 Schools for 2024 SSCE Mass Cheating, Reports Significant Drop in Malpractice Cases.

The National Examination Council (NECO) announced on Thursday that it will summon the management of 40 secondary schools across 17 states for alleged mass cheating in the 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

NECO Registrar, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, made this known during a press conference in Minna, Niger State, where he also announced the release of the 2024 SSCE results. According to Wushishi, 8,437 candidates were involved in various forms of malpractice, a 30.1 percent decrease from the 12,030 cases reported in 2023.

Wushishi stated that all schools implicated in cheating would be invited for discussions with the council, after which appropriate sanctions would be applied. He also revealed that one school in Ekiti State was recommended for de-registration due to mass cheating in two core subjects.

Additionally, 21 supervisors from 12 states were recommended for blacklisting due to poor supervision, aiding and abetting malpractice, abscondment, extortion, drunkenness, and negligence.

On a positive note, over 60 percent of candidates who sat for the 2024 NECO SSCE passed with credits in English Language and Mathematics. Wushishi provided a detailed breakdown of the candidates’ performance: 1,376,423 candidates registered for the examination, with 1,367,736 actually sitting for it. Of these, 828,824 candidates (60.55 percent) obtained five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics, while 1,147,597 candidates (83.90 percent) achieved five credits and above, irrespective of English and Mathematics.