The Senate said weekend it would review the plan by the Federal Government to scrap Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the National Examinations Council (NECO), saying such action would further worsen education system in the country.
The scrapping of the two examination bodies was part of the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye report on the merger of government parastatals and agencies but government has not taken a final decision.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Uche Chukwumerije, in an initial reaction to the planned scrapping, weekend, said government’s action seems “to perpetuate the unfortunate pattern of policy somersaults that has persistently limited progress in education sectors.
“If the proposed scrapping takes place, it does not require a seer to forecast a new swirl of reversals in the next five years”.
Chukwumerije said not dealing with some of the key problems of the education sector like access, quality, funding and institutional management would further exacerbate the problems.
TUNJI OLAWUNI, Abuja
