A group of armed bandits on Friday invaded a secondary school in Kaduna and carted away their NECO question papers just as the SS3 students were about to write the examination.
According to Daily Post, the bandits invaded Government Secondary School, Unguwar Sarki without warning and ordered the NECO examination officer to hand over the packed question papers.
“They snatched the wrapped examination papers and answer sheets and left,” Abdullah Mohammed, one of the students said.
The Principal of the school, Hajiya Bilkisu Aliyu, said in an interview with newsmen, that the gunmen trailed the NECO supervisor from a commercial bank along Alkali Road where she had gone to collect the exam questions and answer sheets.
“Thinking it was money, they demanded she hand over the bulk of the wrapped papers to them and threatened to shoot her.
“They were told it was not money but they would not listen. They snatched the papers and disappeared into thin air,” she said.
Meanwhile, a parent, Sanusi Umar, whose child was among those writing the senior exams, said, “What we heard initially was bandits had come to kidnap our students. So hundreds of parents stormed the school.
“However, on getting to the school, we were told it was armed robbers that came to take away the wrapped examination papers thinking it was money.
Kaduna schools have become a common target for bandits in North-West. Despite the closing-down of many schools in the state, armed bandits have continued to raid and disrupt peace and education in the state.
“I want to call on the government and security agencies to beef up security in schools since these criminals are now targeting our schools.”
It was gathered that the school and NECO staff had to mobilise exam papers from other centres to enable the students to write the affected papers under strict security surveillance.
