How to Get Primary School Certificates and/or Testimonials - SCHOOLCONTENTS.info

How to Get Primary School Certificates and/or Testimonials

You will need a Primary school certificate and/or testimonial at various stages of your life. When seeking admissions, applying for jobs, or going for screenings/interviews, one of the requirements may be the certificate or its counterpart - the testimonial.


The questions that come up when people are in need of these official documents may surround issues including:


  1. differences between primary school testimonials and certificates
  2. difference between common entrance and first school leaving certificates
  3. samples of primary school testimonials and certificates
  4. collection of the certificates/testimonials collected from the school or ministry of education
  5. other possibilities where a primary school doesn't exist again
  6. the possibility of collection by proxy
  7. the possibility of using a testimonial instead or in place of a certificate


This post will hold you by hand and show you ways out of different issues and concerns regarding your primary school certificate and testimonial.

What is a Primary School Certificate?

An official document given to testify to the completion of primary school education is called the Primary School Certificate. A few can refer to this as the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) or Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC).

Sample of Primary 6 Certificate

A pupil is entitled to collect his or her certificate after he or she must have taken part in the common entrance exam by the state (ministry of education) or federal (National Council of Examination (NECO's NCEE).


Loosely, the Primary School Certificate is called the Primary 6 (VI) certificate in the case of public or government-owned schools and the Primary 5 (V) Certificate in the case of private-owned schools.

What is a Primary School Testimonial?

This is an official document not only showing that you'd completed your primary education but also testifying to your character, and participation in school activities, and recommending you for your next academic or career pursuits.

Sample of a Primary School Testimonial

A testimonial gives a brief account of a pupil while in school. This document may detail among other things a pupil's admission number, year of entrance and departure, subjects offered in school, well-known extra curriculum activity, and a position held among others.


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Are There Differences Between Testimonial and Certificate?

Obviously, from the explanations above, there is a clear difference between the two documents. A Certificate is mainly a representation of your completion of 6 or 5 years of primary education while the Testimonial, in addition, testifies to your character, academy, and extra-curriculum participation while in the school.


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Where to Collect Primary School Certificate/Testimonial

To get your Primary School Leaving Certificate, you have to return to your attended primary school. In case you attended more than one, you may need to visit the last one attended instead.


This is because the last primary school is more likely where you sat for your final exams called Common Entrance Exam.


However, for a few people that went to and completed their primary education in a private primary school but wrote the final exams under a public school or ministry of education, you may get your certificate with the school you spent more years with. Such a private school would collect the certificate for you from the ministry of education.


In the case of testimonials, you can strictly get a testimonial from a school you spend your full primary years with. The school should, under normal circumstances, be able to attest to your character, academic, and non-academic participation than a school where you just spent a year or few days.


If however, you can't get that from the school in question, you can as well approach the last school for help.

Where a Primary School Doesn't Exist Again, How to Get its Certificate or Testimonial

I've come across a few cases where the primary schools attended were no more in existence. Such a school might have folded up, closed, or been castigated by the government. We have also got cases of relocation of schools with candidates who have no new addresses.


In this case, you have to approach the Ministry of Education L.I.E office of the town or the local government of the school. This office usually has the records of all schools established in the past, presently, or at present within the local council. Tell your story and they will find the right solution. 


A friend needed his testimonial as part of the credentials for a job interview but the school was folded. The L.I.E. office had to issue the state ministry of education testimonial in the name of the folded school.

Can You Get a Lost Primary School Certificate or Testimonial Back?

It's usual to have your primary school certificate and/or testimonial lost, damaged, or misplaced after being issued. The possibility of getting it back may be daunting but it's very possible.


A public primary school may only issue a certificate once, except if there are convincing officially acceptable reasons to reissue that. This is because the certificates are usually kept in the state government's custody - making it difficult to be issued twice.


However, the same government-owned primary school can issue testimonials more than once. Such documents are made from the schools' records and usually on their official letterheads.


Private primary schools, on the other hand, may conveniently issue you another primary school certificate and/or testimonial in case of loss, or damage.

Can Another Person Help to Collect a Primary School Certificate or Testimonial

There are a few cases of people collecting their certificates and testimonials by proxies.


As a matter of fact, by law, certificates, and testimonials should be collected in person. However, where there are official and legal representations by a family member, superiors, sponsors, organizations, etc., the testimonials or certificates can be issued to another person on behalf of the owners.

Using Testimonials in Place of Certificates and Vice Versa

There are cases of people who have one of the primary school certificates and testimonials but not the two. And for their official needs, the recipient asks for a certificate or testimonial but not the two together.


They now want to know if they can use the testimonials, they have, where certificates are required, or if they can use certificates where testimonials are required.


Under normal circumstances, each of these documents has its purpose. You should be in the possession of the two and be on the safer side.


However, experiences had shown that you could use one in place of the other. Organizations accept certificates mostly. Hence, you may not be required to present the testimonials at the same time. 


If ever required to present a certificate, you can use a testimonial instead. And if a testimonial, you can present the certificate. 


Except the organization wants more than your evidence of primary school education and completion, either of the two should serve rightly.

Requesting Primary School Certificate and/or Testimonial Online

You can easily imagine being able to collect your primary school certificate or testimonial direct through the internet without having to visit the school, the ministry of education, or the L.I.E. office of the town of the school.


However, this is not widely possible, unlike the WAEC certificate which one can now request online, a primary school certificate may not be possible to collect unless you make it to your school or through a valid proxy, as earlier noted.


It is worth noting, however, that a few primary schools (especially private) are now using the advent of the internet to maintain an online presence. Among the services such avenue can make possible is a request for a testimonial, transcripts, etc. 


If your school has a website, kindly check for such updates on it and see if you can request it without being physically present at the school.


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65 comments:

  1. Please can a private school issue primary leaving certificate by themselves if the person didnt go to any government school?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can I please get a clear sample of the testimonial? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What are the requirment if I want to collect my primary 6 certificate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Visit the school. Tell them what you've come for. They will check your record and issue the certificate with some fee. I can't be precise about the fee. But prepare up to 5k.

      Delete
  4. Can a private school issue some one a certificate even though the person didn't write? If yes is there any implications?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I cant remember the name of the public school my teacher took me to write. Ilasamaja lagos state

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Find your teacher or someone close. He can guide you again.

      Delete
  6. Hi Sir.. am a student. I lost all my credentials, including my original primary school leaving certificate and testimonial.... I went back to my primary school they gave me letter to whom it may concern.. and am presently in final year in school... They requested for primary school leaving certificate.. my question now is can I use the letter primary school letter to whom it may concern for my final year screening? Thank you sir

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  7. Hello sir. How long does it for the ceecertific to be available after writing the exam? In my daughter's school they told me it will take 3 to four years. While we it now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please sir I didn't finish primary school but now I'm a graduate and I need the certificate for job please is there anything I can do or do you have any solution for me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Talk to any old primary school you can convince to issue it at a price. Especially private, they can help.

      Delete
    2. Please sir I need you mobile sir ,my own problem is talk to you on phone please

      Delete
  9. What is the cost of getting FSLC in Lagos State and must it be gotten from the Local Goverment where the person schooled

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have the price idea. You have to obtain it at the primary school concerned. And where necessarily, follow other steps detailed in the post above.

      Delete
  10. My child homeschools presently.she left regular school in Pry 4 two years ago. We intend for her to enter secondary school in September this year. Must she join a school before writing her NCEC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. She can still claim primary 5 for NCEE.

      Delete
    2. Good pm sir. I did my common entrance in year 2004/2005, but I did not go for the certificate due to some reasons. So I did another one in year 2011. Pls, will the one I just did useful cos some people are saying they will use my age to judge me later. Is it true?

      Delete
    3. The certificate date should align with your date of birth, years in schools and years of graduation.

      Delete
  11. Hello thanks for this information it really helps. Please I have a question, the primary school I attended, I attend the school UpTo 6 years but I did not registered for common entrance exam before I lift that state.i continued my education but I need it now. Can that my school I spent 6 years issue me my FLSC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They can't. However, they can give you testimonial. You will need the name of the school where you did common entrance for the FSLC

      Delete
  12. Good morning sir. sir please I did my common entrance back in cross River state but I lost all my paper due to fire incident and now I am in Lagos and I really need the results for my new job please sir I don't know how to get it again. what can I do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All I know about primary certificates and testimonials together with how to get them are already discussed in the post above.

      Delete
  13. Enter your comment...
    Sir plz the sample of the common entrance certificate u posted is not what they gave me, and the paper they gave me i lost it, plz if i go back to demand for another one will they give me cause itz been years since i left,and i need it for admission

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you said, what I gave was just a sample. It didn't have to be the same given to you. You can go back to request for another one. at least, if they can't give you the original again, there must a provision for attestation or something related.

      Delete
  14. Hello sir I finished my primary school in a private school and I was issued a testimonial but while registering for university I was told that I can't use it and I must bring a state issued certificate , when I returned to my primary school I was told that Kwara state doesn't give certificate to private school students.But the university insists that I should bring a state issued certificate.PLS what should I do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is nothing you can do other than to let your university know that Kwara State doesn't issue that.

      Delete
    2. Hello sir I have received my certificate before since 2009 but is with my mom and she has late now can the school give me another 😭?

      Delete
  15. Hi, Can the sample of this certificate be used on social media as an example?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I did my common entrance in 1996 I went to my school they told me to pay 5000 and 2000 for transport

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello sir
    I went to my school to collect my Certificate But they told that it could not be found that I should go and sware an affidavit
    But the sincere truth is I really want the original copy of my result what can I do sir
    Please tell me what you think can be done because
    I need it for admission purpose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is nothing you can do if your school can't find your certificate.

      Delete
  18. Please can one get a testimonal instead if he/she failed the primary six exams.? And it is the scl the person attended.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hello sir, I have my primary certificate from the public school I attended.but my prospective employers are asking from the one from ministry of education are list of all those I did the exam with. And the min of education said they don't issue because the school own is valid

    ReplyDelete
  20. I wrote my common entrance examination in 2008 and that time first school certificate was banned in anambra state. I have primary school leaving testimonial and my question is: can I obtain my first school leaving with my primary school leaving testimonial since I didn't say for the exam sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No you can't. Certificates are for those who completed the primary school education with their schools. However, with the situation, you should visit the school to know if there is any provision for you

      Delete
  21. Hello sir, I wrote my primary six exam in a private school in 2000, I didn't collect it then, and the school is no longer existing and the owner is dead, and I seriously need it now. What can I do please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The below below will help.

      https://www.schoolcontents.info/2022/04/my-school-no-longer-exists-how-to-get.html

      Delete
  22. Please can I amend the age on my testimonial?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I went to 4 secondary schools, am I to get a testimonial from each of them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. One of them should be willing to give you the testimonial.

      Delete
    2. Thank you very much Sir, for the help

      Delete
  24. Sir Is first school leaving a written exam because I took only common entrance

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. First School Leaving Certificate is the evidence of your completing pry 5/6 which available to students who took common entrance.

      Delete
  25. Sir the name on my First School Leaving Certificate is different from the name on my other certificates ( The rest are all the same). The only thing connecting my primary school certificate with my other certificates is my surname... Is there a way I can apply for a change of name or something?
    The School I attended has been closed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As already covered, in the post above, you can go to the Ministry of Education L.I.E office of the town or the local government of the school. They will help you procure a new certificate with the correct names on it.

      Delete
  26. How long does it take for first school leaving result to be out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They're usually available as soon as the pupils are produced through common entrance or passing out exams.

      Delete
  27. Sorry to disturb you but can I go back to my school and collect my primary,secondary certificate and use them for an international scholarship?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi sir,please the name on my secondary school certificate is different from my other certificates and result,what do I do and how much will it cost me?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Please is it possible to collect FSLC that's 30 years older now?

    ReplyDelete
  30. I lost my primary school certificate,can I swear an affidavit in court to support my claim

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hello, please what can I do in this situation, i can't get my primary school certificate cause fire engulfed the school that year, now i need the certificate for job ,what can I do, cause the school said they can't issue another certificate,

    ReplyDelete
  32. Please how can I get pamary school

    ReplyDelete
  33. Pls sir I finished my primary school in 2008,we only wrote common entrance examination and I have my testimonial,but my problem now is how to get my FSLC because we didn't write the exam(FSLC examination was stopped as of that time)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Sir please i wrote my common entrance 2015 but i failed,is the anything i can do for the result to be changed to pass

    ReplyDelete
  35. Please sir. I didn't write my FSLC but because I need it for job interview I collected one from the LGA authority will it be accepted?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hello Sir I was given primary School leaving and there is a mention of both FSLC and common entrance can it be presented as FSLC if am asked to submit FSLC or I have to get a seperate FSLC?

    ReplyDelete

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