We pay cultists before we can write exams- Principal

Principal of Uvawhu Comprehensive High School, Port Harcout, Mr. Greg Okpaka, has lamented that suspected cultists now demand for money from the school before allowing it to hold examinations.

Okpaka told  correspondents that the school authority decided to give the cult group money to prevent them from disrupting the examinations.



He specifically said that cult members from the community came to ask for money on several occasions before they allowed the last external exam organised by the West African Examination Council to hold.

He pointed out that students now give less attention to their studies because some of them had been initiated into cult groups.

Explaining that the entire school has currently become a jungle, Okpaka disclosed that students were now paying more attention to cult activities than their studies.

He said in 2014, the school could not hold its internal exams as a result of threat from cultists and cult-related activities.

“Cult related activities have been disturbing academic activities. In 2014 we could not hold examinations in this school based on cult related activities, although it started from the community.

“Cultism has been impacting negatively on the students both on the internal and external examinations. The last time we conducted internal examinations here, the students’ scores were so low that if we had graded them based on that, none of them would have been promoted.

“During the last West African Examination Council, some cult boys from the community came several times to take money from the school. And the school gave them (money) to allow the exams to hold.

“We are virtually in a jungle here. From what I experienced, students here give less attention to academic works and give much attention to cultism,” he stressed.

Okpaka observed that some of the secondary students were now uncomfortable with campaigns against cultism, regretting that students now become impatient whenever campaigns were launched against cultism.

The educationist lamented that morality was fading away in secondary schools, noting that students now exhibit criminality without fear or shame.

Okpaka noted that when students were addressed to avoid cultism, they begin to shuffle their legs on the ground as a mark of protest and dissatisfaction.