The Edo Government has directed all public and private schools in the state to resume the 2024/25 academic session on Sept. 30.

This directive comes after an earlier postponement of the resumption date, initially set for Sept. 9, 2024.

In a statement on Sunday in Benin, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Ojo Akin-Longe, warned that a fake notification had been circulating that schools would reopen on Monday.

He urged parents and guardians to disregard this false information.

“We refer to the earlier announcement postponing the resumption of all public and private schools in Edo State, which was originally scheduled to reopen on Monday, 9th September 2024.

“We are aware of a subsequent false notification stating that schools should resume on Monday, 23rd September 2024.

“We wish to clarify that this announcement did not originate from the Edo State Government and is the work of mischief makers.

The information is false and should be disregarded.

“The Edo State Government hereby directs that all public and private schools in the state will now resume for the 2024/25 academic session on Monday, 30th September 2024.

“We appreciate your understanding and cooperation,” the permanent secretary said.

The National Educational Loan Fund (NELFUND) has presented a ceremonial cheque of N89.29m to the Nasarawa State University.

The presentation of the cheque was announced in several posts shared on X on Friday afternoon.

“Nasarawa State Students have also benefited as the institution received a ceremonial cheque of payment made to the school in total sum of N89.29m,” the post read.

“The cheque was presented by the MD of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr to the VC of the university, Prof Sa’adatu Hassan Liman.”

The National Examinations Council, (NECO) has released the June/July 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination results (SSCE), with 60.55 per cent of candidates securing five credits and above in English Language and Mathematics.

The Registrar of NECO, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this while addressing newsmen at the NECO headquarters on Thursday in Minna, Niger.

Wushishi said that a total of 1,376,423 candidates, representing 706,950 males and 669,473 females, registered for the exam.

The registrar said that 1,367,736 candidates sat for the examination, representing 702,112 Males and 665,624 females.

He said that 828, 284 candidates had five credits and above, including English and Mathematics, representing 60.55 per cent.

Wushishi said that the number of candidates with five credits and above, irrespective of English and Mathematics, were 1,147,597, representing 83.90 per cent.

He said that there was a great reduction in the number of examination malpractices this year compared to 2023.

“The number of candidates involved in various forms of malpractice in 2024 is 8,437 as against 12,030 in 2023, which shows a reduction of 30. 1 per cent,” he said.

The registrar, however, said that 40 schools were found to be involved in mass cheating during the examination.

” During the conduct of the 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), 40 schools were found to have been involved in whole school (mass) cheating in 17 states.

” They will be invited to the Council for discussion, after which appropriate sanctions will be applied.

“A school in Ekiti was recommended for de-recognition for mass cheating in two core subjects and 01 Science subject.

” Similarly, 21 Supervisors were recommended for blacklisting due to poor supervision, aiding and abetting, abscondment, extortion, drunkenness and negligence in 12 states,”said.

He urged candidates that sat for the examination to visit NECO website to access their results.

Wushishi said candidates can access their results on NECO website: www.neco.gov.ng using their examination registration number,” he said.

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has announced the release of the 2024 SSCE internal results.

This was made known by the NECO Registrar/Chief Executive, Professor Dantani Wushishi, during a press briefing on Thursday, September 19, 2024, in Minna.

Additionally, Professor Wushishi revealed that NECO had blacklisted 21 supervisors across 12 states, and de-recognized one school in Ekiti State due to widespread cheating in three subjects.

Steps to Check NECO 2024 Results Online:

1. Visit the NECO Portal: Go to https://www.neco.gov.ng, the only official platform for checking results.
2. Select ‘NECO Results’: On the homepage, choose the ‘NECO Results’ option.
3. This will direct you to the result-checking section. Alternatively, you can directly visit https://results.neco.gov.ng.
4. Enter Examination Details: Provide your exam year (2024), exam type (June/July or Nov/Dec), and your unique examination number.
5. Input Your Token: Purchase the result-checker token from the NECO website or authorised retailers. Enter the token in the appropriate field.
6. View Your Results: After entering the necessary details, click ‘Check Results’. Your results will be displayed within a few seconds.

Special Notes:

Tokens can be purchased from a) The official NECO website for secure transactions. b) Authorised third-party retailers. Ensure they are officially approved by NECO.

A result-checker token allows you to check a candidate’s result up to five times. Any further checks will be required using the NECO E-Verify Result Verification Portal.

Canada announced Wednesday it was slashing international student permits next year, and tightening foreign worker rules to further bring down the number of temporary residents in the country.

The move comes after several recent rounds of restrictions aimed at taming record immigration levels that pushed Canada’s population past 41 million earlier this year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has pointed to the high immigration as straining the country’s housing sector, jobs market and social services.

“It is a privilege to come to Canada. It is not a right,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a news conference.

In 2025, Ottawa plans to issue 437,000 study permits to international students, down from 485,000 this year and more than 500,000 in 2023.

It is also putting new limits on work permits for spouses of some international students and foreign workers. And it will be stepping up checks before issuing travel visas to stem a spike in fraudulent or rejected asylum claims.

Ottawa has already said it would reduce the number of temporary residents to five percent of the population, down from 6.8 percent in April.

Nigeria has revealed that it aims to achieve no less than 70% digital literacy by the end of the year 2027.

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this on Friday.

Inuwa said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu to discuss collaboration towards achieving President Bola Tinubu’s digital literacy mandate for Nigeria.

“During the meeting, Inuwa highlighted the goal of achieving 70% digital literacy in Nigeria by 2027 with NITDA’s Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative aiming to train 50 million Nigerians,” the agency wrote on X.

Dr. Sununu expressed the ministry’s commitment to supporting the initiative, emphasizing the inclusion of in-service teacher training and utilising teachers in all the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the country for wider outreach.

The minster, meanwhile, has directed that a Technical Working Group (TWG) should be established immediately and all relevant MDAs should be co-opted for optimal results.