The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is piloting a new registration system for three of its examinations written in the country. Under the new system, candidates will no longer be required to purchase a scratch card to register for its examinations.
Instead, the candidates would have to go on the Internet and fill electronic forms and thereafter receive an invoice which they would take to designated banks for payment of examination fees.
The acting Head of the Test Administration Division of WAEC, Mr Kweku Nyamekye-Aidoo, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, explained that the receipt which would be issued to them (prospective candidates) by the banks would bear their index numbers for the various examinations. The new system is expected to cover the November-December (Nov-Dec) private candidates of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the General Business Certificate Examination (GBCE) and the Advanced Business Certificate Examination (ABCE).
Mr Nyamekye-Aidoo said already, the pilot programme was being conducted on the 2009 October-November GBCE and ABCE, after which the exercise would be extended to Nov-Dec private candidates next year (2010). He said the banks, where candidates would pay their examination fees, would be the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and the Prudential Bank. “Until you have paid your examination fees to either of the banks, you have not registered and cannot get an index number. It is only when you get an index number that you have registered,” he emphasised.
Mr Nyamekye-Aidoo said with the index number, candidates could go ahead and fill their declaration forms, which would be printed alongside the invoice for submission at the nearest WAEC office. He advised persons who endorsed the declaration forms of candidates to know the candidates very well before endorsing their forms. “This is because persons who endorse the forms of those who impersonate would be held liable for abetting impersonation”.
He said the new system would give the candidates more room for registration at the nearest internet cafe instead of in the previous situation where the scratch cards were sold at few sales points. Mr Nyamekye-Aidoo urged candidates who went to internet cafes to register to ensure that every information that they provided was correct, else they would pay a penalty if they came back to do any correction. “Candidates would have to be very certain of what they put on the net before submission of their forms. ‘’They should not be in a hurry to submit their forms, but go all over the information they have provided to check spellings, among other things,” he appealed. He said candidates would have to scan their signatures and photographs before submitting their forms, else the entry would be invalid.
Mr Nyamekye-Aidoo urged cafe operators to be extra careful in filling the electronic forms on the net to avoid making mistakes, saying that they owed it a responsibility to ensure that they did not create problems for the candidates, since that could affect them psychologically as they prepared for examinations. “I would like to encourage candidates to have their own e-mail addresses to ensure easy correspondence,” he said.
Source: Daily Graphic
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