The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has accused school owners and teachers of complicity in the compromise of examination questions in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates.
This is as the examination body promised to sanction errant persons from being involved in subsequent editions of the exam.
The council’s Head of Public Affairs Unit, Damianus Ojijeogu made the disclosure on Tuesday in Lagos.
“The council would like to emphasise that the question papers for the ongoing WASSCE for school candidates, 2018 did not leak as has been erroneously portrayed in the media,” he said.
According to him, investigations revealed that the supervisor’s photo-shopped previous examination papers and forwarded same to operators of rogue websites, who in turn, swindled gullible candidates.
“Our investigations also revealed that some school heads, invigilators, supervisors and candidates who succeeded in smuggling mobile phones and other electronic devices into examination halls, snapped the questions after the examination had commenced, and forwarded same to their collaborators for solutions.
“We have been compiling a list of all supervisors found wanting; at the end of the entire exercise, we shall forward their names to ANCOPPS and the ministry of education for proper disciplinary measures.
“Such persons are not staff of WAEC; we shall blacklist them for good,” Ojijeogu said.
“The leakage can be said to have occurred when questions get into the hands of some individuals who are not supposed to have them before the scheduled time.
“No such case has been established since the commencement of this examination.
“Rather than term it as leakage, it is correct to describe it as malpractice which we are committed to tackling.
“We want to assure the general public that the integrity of our examination is a top priority to the council, and we remain committed in ensuring that it remains so,” he said.
Ojijeogu told the newsmen that WAEC was deploying resources to introduce new techniques to protect its examinations. Among these is partnership with security agencies.
EduCeleb.com recalls that the Nigerian Police paraded four persons from Edo, Ondo and Ogun States who specialise in leaking and solving exam questions through websites and WhatsApp in Lagos last Friday. Also, an owner of a fake examination centre in Ikorodu, Lagos was arrested.
“We are all aware that one of the greatest challenges facing the education sector is examination malpractice.
“On our part, we shall continue to do all we can to ensure that this ugly trend is checked.
“We want to commend security agencies, especially the police, for partnering with us in an effort to expose and check the cankerworm,” he said.
Ojijeogu added that the collaboration assisted the council to apprehend a syndicate at various locations in 2017.
Ojijeogu solicited more support from members of the public to rid the education sector of examination malpractice.
“Council will always be ahead in deploying cutting edge technologies that will defy malpractice no matter how hard the perpetrators try.
“We will not compromise standards because we have come a long way; our integrity is key,” he added.
