The National Examination Council (NECO) has expanded its global reach by accrediting additional institutions based outside Nigeria.
NECO’s acting director of public relations Azeez Sanni, in a statement on Saturday, said that the approved schools are located in Equatorial Guinea and Niger Republic.
Last year, the Nigerian examination body authorised a few
locations in the Niger Republic so that Nigerian students in the Francophone nation could take the assessment.
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The statement read, “Determined to broaden its horizon and expand its global presence, the National Examinations Council has accredited more foreign schools to write the Senior School Certificate Examination and the Basic Education Certificate Examination.”
“The newly accredited schools, in addition to the existing ones, are in Niger Republic and Equatorial Guinea,” Sanni added.
“NECO accreditation team visited the Schools to assess their readiness to write the SSCE and BECE.”
“The accreditation team inspected classrooms, laboratories, libraries, computer laboratories, workshops, examination halls and sports facilities to determine their adequacy and suitability for NECO examinations.”
“After a thorough evaluation and comprehensive assessment, the schools were granted full SSCE and full BECE accreditation status.”
Students currently writing NECO’s SSCE in Niger Republic
Candidates are writing the NECO SSCE external examination, taking place in Diffa, Niger Republic.
The council claims that the first NECO SSCE external centre outside of Nigeria is the UNHCR School in Diffa, Niger Republic.
Candidates from Equatorial Guinea, Benin Republic, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger Republic, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now write the NECO exam.
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About NECO’s SSCE and BECE
Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former head of state, founded NECO in April 1999 to handle the increasing number of secondary school applicants and ensure that exams meet the needs of Nigerians.
NECO administers the General Certificate in Education (GCE) in November/December for private candidates and the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) in June/July for school candidates who want to proceed to higher institutions.
Its goal is to guarantee that NECO’s exams adhere to the directives, standards, and aspirations of the National Curriculum and the National Policy on Education. Its certificates are internationally recognised.
The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is an examination that is written by students after completing three years of Junior Secondary Schools before they can be eligible to proceed to Senior Secondary Schools and vocational schools in Ghana and Nigeria
The Ministry of Education’s Ghana Education Service is in charge of its administration. In Nigeria, it is overseen by the National Examinations Council (NECO) and run by the state ministry of education in each state.
Exams for Unity Schools, Armed Forces Secondary Schools, and other Federal Government schools are directly organised by NECO. It is conducted annually in June (Ghana) and May/June (Nigeria).