The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says claims of purported leakage of papers in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are false.
“The false information [is] circulating on social media,” WAEC said in a statement on Tuesday but noted, “there has been no leakage of examination papers for the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2019.”
The examination body through its Deputy Director, Public Affairs Mrs. Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, however said the Council in its monitoring of the examination received information regarding examination malpractices.
“In some cases, pre-arranged cheating has been reported by insiders with school authorities creating hideouts where teachers knowledgeable in the subject area wait for the question paper packets to be opened. Snapshots of these questions are taken, solved and answers sent to candidates in the examination hall.”
The Council also identified the resurgence of the operation of rogue websites helping students to cheat.
“These website operators, with the connivance of some invigilators and supervisors, receive snapshots of the question papers from the centres after the question paper packets are opened. They then solve the questions and post the answers on their websites and the WhatsApp groups of candidates who have paid for their services.”
To address these challenges, the statement said the Council has put in place the following measures:
Increased the inspection and monitoring of the examination at the various centres; Withdrawn and/or annulled the appointment of some supervisors and invigilators pending further sanctions; Made a formal complaint to the Cyber Crime Unit of the CID on the operations of the rogue websites; A number of candidates suspected to have been involved in examination malpractice are being investigated. According to the statement, the Council has decided to scrutinise all scripts of schools where cheating has been reported as a further step to check examination malpractice.
It however said a great number of candidates taking part in the examinations have conducted themselves very well as it assured that due diligence would be followed to ensure fairness to all.
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