By Princely Onyenwe | News Desk
OWERRI, IMO STATE — Fresh concerns have emerged over the 2026 admission exercise at the Federal Government Girls College, Owerri, as parents and guardians demand urgent clarification over the criteria used in selecting candidates for admission.
The controversy follows claims that some candidates who reportedly scored as high as 192 marks in the relevant entrance examination were denied admission despite alleged vacancies in the school.
The affected parents are particularly questioning how candidates who reportedly scored below 170 marks secured admission while some candidates with significantly higher scores were left out of the published list.
The development has triggered calls for transparency from the school management and relevant education authorities, with parents demanding to know whether the admission process was based strictly on examination performance or influenced by other officially approved criteria, including quotas, catchment arrangements, merit categories or other admission guidelines.
At the centre of the controversy is a fundamental question: If genuine vacancies remain, why were candidates with higher scores not considered for admission, and on what basis were lower-scoring candidates admitted?
Parents are therefore urging the Principal and management of the college to urgently review the 2026 admission list and consider qualified candidates who scored 190 marks and above, particularly where verifiable vacancies exist and the candidates satisfy all applicable admission requirements.
They are also calling for the publication or explanation of the applicable admission criteria, including the basis upon which available places were allocated, to eliminate doubts and prevent further tension among affected families.
The Federal Government Girls College, Owerri, is a federal Unity School under the Federal Ministry of Education. The institution’s federal status makes transparency and accountability in its admission process a matter of public interest.
However, the specific number of available vacancies, the complete scores of admitted candidates and the precise criteria applied in the 2026 exercise could not be independently established from an authoritative admission document publicly available at the time of filing this report.
The allegations therefore require an official response from the school management and the Federal Ministry of Education.
Parents are calling on the Ministry and other relevant authorities to intervene immediately, verify the complaints and, where discrepancies are established, take appropriate corrective measures before the admission process is concluded.
They argue that every qualified candidate deserves a fair opportunity and that the admission process should be sufficiently transparent for parents to understand why a candidate with a higher examination score may be excluded while another with a lower score is admitted.
With dissatisfaction growing among affected parents, stakeholders are urging the authorities to address the complaints without delay and prevent the controversy from escalating into a broader dispute in Owerri.
9News Nigeria will continue to follow the development and will publish the response of the school management and relevant education authorities when obtained.
