Skip to main content

IELTS: Nigerians’ Call To Skip English Proficiency Test-UK Home Office Reacts

IELTS: UK Home Office reacts to Nigerians’ call to skip English proficiency test.



WITH over 60,000 signatures on a petition on change.org to stop foreign universities from requesting English proficiency tests from Nigerians, the UK Home Office says changes will not be implemented soon.

THE UK Home Office responded to a request by Ebenezar Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers, an open-source policy platform, which asked the Home Office to provide its criteria for exempting countries from taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Foreign universities demand the IELTS as a requirement for admitting international students.

While the IELTS tests are expensive, and fees more than double the minimum wage in Nigeria, the test results are valid only for two years.

“To be included on the Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) list, we must have evidence that most people in the country (more than half) speak English as a first language,” the UK Home Office said.

The UK Home Office does not officially recognise 27 Anglophone countries in Africa as English speaking countries.

However, the UK Home Office exempts citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and 10 other countries from taking the test.

"We rely on publicly available evidence such as official censuses to make this determination along with other academic sources. We may also consult the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office where additional evidence is required.

“Currently, on the information available to us, Nigeria does not meet the requirement. This list is periodically reviewed and updated, and new countries are added if they are found to meet the requirements,” the letter read."

Speaking with The ICIR, Wikina said that the campaign would continue but stakeholders would meet to decide the next course of action to the UK Home Office response.


"Policy Shapers will be hosting a stakeholders strategy session next week to plan for next steps with the campaign and bringing together all parties concerned,” he said.

The #ReformIELTSPolicy campaign on Twitter, also initiated by Policy Shapers, received the endorsement of the Vice President of Nigeria Yem Osinbajo,
 who believes Nigerians deserve an exemption from the test as former British colonies.

Source:ICIR

Comments

Post a Comment

Type your comments here

Popular posts from this blog

HERMOSA_IMPERIAL- YOUR BEST OPTION!

Introducing your MARKET GENIUS! HERMOSA_IMPERIAL! Hermosa_Imperial, Lagos. A certified Business, that deals in hospitality management, personal shopping, event management and logistics. Just as our name implies, we are Imperial; with a regal bearing and business sense. We have a vast, indepth knowledge of the market place, where to pick your exquisite items from. We are swift, affordable and reliable. You have a need? Think no further, let us surf the market for you. Holla at us! Hermosa_imperial has gone a step further by providing via our YouTube video, an insight of the Lagos metropolitan market. Showing viewers how to surf the major and minor markets in Lagos. The vital marketing strategies that you can use to survive Lagos, reliable online vendors and so much more.   Hermosa_imperial is a MUST stop! We at Hermosa_Imperial cares for you! CONTACT: 0703 8606139. 0704 508 7378. https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCiJSdwFZhDY-D8m1z0m8gfA NOTE: PAID ADVERT .
21 comments
Read more

The Queens-Abandoning Her Own Ambition To Raise Up Greatness!

"The Queens," celebrating womanhood, the 'preserver' of the Society.  In Today's article, we meet Angela Odidi, a mother who sacrificed her life's ambition of becoming a nurse, to give her all to her children. This is indeed a noble sacrifice. Her intelligence, she embedded in her children, her knowledge she implanted, her wit and charisma she got rooted in them. Odidi, instilled in them, her strength and discipline. She thought them to be compassionate and empathetic towards everyone. Of course, her beauty, nature, entrenched in them. A lot of women all around the world fall into similar situations, they give away their life's hope and childhood dreams, they step aside for others to fill these shoes. We celebrate you, women! Queens indeed, each with her crown. We see; we observe, we remember, we appreciate! Angela Odidi is an avid reader and lover of books. Fluent in languages; English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Good in mathematics. Her decision and hard wo...
11 comments
Read more

NEWSBREAKING: Nigerian Government Lifts Twitter Ban

Twitter. On Wednesday, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the head of the Nigerian team negotiating with Twitter has said that the social media giant Twitter has agreed to pay “applicable tax” and establish a legal entity in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2022. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi is the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency,  said this in a statement while announcing the lifting of the more than six-month-long suspension of the social media platform in the country. “Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” Abdullahi said. Twitter was suspended in Nigeria in June 2021, a few days after the platform deleted a remark from Buhari’s account. The led to an outcry over freedom of expr...
1 comment
Read more