The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has proposed measures such as annual rotation and award systems for centre invigilators and the use of advanced technology to curb examination malpractices in Ghana.
They proposed these at the maiden stakeholders’ dialogue in Accra on examination malpractices.
Examination plays an important role in determining achievements and certifying achievements, but WAEC says examination malpractice among students is increasing at an alarming rate.
According to the exams body, a lot of these malpractices are detected by markers, and the Deputy Director of the Institute of Education at the University of Cape Coast, Prof Jonathan Fletcher underscored the need to deal with malpractices.
A Deputy Minister of Education for pre-tertiary education, Alex Kyeremeh said the ministry would support the fight against exam malpractices.
He said that although educational standards are not falling, it is nowhere near the expectations of the ministry.
But in what appears to be a name-and-shame approach by WAEC, the Brong Ahafo Region was ranked first out of the 10 regions of the country with the highest cases of mass cheating in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for 2014.
In the Brong Ahafo Region alone, about 4,000 students were caught cheating in last year’s senior high school (SHS) final examinations.
Head of International Examinations Department of the West African Examinations Council, Nii Christian Johnson described as alarming the rate of cheating in Ghanaian schools over the past five years. The council in 2009 recorded 2,373 cases of malpractices.
In 2011 the figure jumped to 4,201, and 2012 recorded 3,439 incidences. Also, students caught cheating in 2013 stood at 5,653 while in 2014 the entire country recorded a total of 8,051 exam malpractices, of which 4,000 came from one region.
According to Nii Johnson, the situation is worrying because these students were aided in the dishonourable act by teachers and police personnel who ironically were supposed to supervise a cheating-free examination at the centres.
On the way forward, the Council has given approval for the closure of the Obuasi centre for WASSCE private candidates owing to the persistent mass cheating there over the years.
The Head of National Office at WAEC, Very Rev S.N.N. Ollenu, said it is critical for stakeholders of education to come together to minimise, if not eliminate, examination malpractice from our educational system.
This, he said, is because WAEC cannot singlehandedly deal with the situation.
As the way forward, he said teaching methods should be designed to aid deep learning, and examination papers and scripts should be handled properly.
He said the judiciary and the police should also be sensitised on the sharp rise of examination malpractice.
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