The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it has increased security at the West African Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to prevent question paper leaks and other irregularities.
The move, which was announced at a press conference in Accra on the “Ghana only version ” of the examination, was a collaboration with the National Intelligence Bureau monitoring, to monitor the printing of question papers.
Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, Ghana, said the council is working closely with security agencies to track down and arrest dealers and operators of fake websites.
Apart from inspecting and securing depots across the country, she said additional depots have been created for keeping confidential materials and question papers will be moved from strong rooms in batches to the depots.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said WAEC will ensure that the depots are close to schools to prevent schools from starting the examination late or question papers given to them early.
She said some examination questions will be serialized and in addition to standard keys, combination keys will be used for all security bags containing question papers packets.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe speaking on other measures said question papers will be issued 45 minutes before the start of each paper and increase surveillance and monitoring of centers prone to malpractice.
“Schools accused of malpractice would be under surveillance and we will name and shame schools that will engage in malpractices during the conduct of the examination to serve as a warning to others,” she said.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe cautioned candidates and the public against the activities of fake websites and other social media groups as they use past questions papers administered in other countries of WAEC states to promote their websites and activities.
Additionally, she noted that provisions have been made for candidates with special needs such as Braille papers for the blind, large print papers for visually impaired candidates and extra time for candidates with cerebral palsy and autism.
When asked about the reported national debt, Mrs Teye-Cudjoe could not say how much was paid to the Council, but she said the Council has received enough money to conduct the examination.
WAEC Ghana’s Head of Legal Affairs Rev. Victor Brew said 10 cases of violation of WAEC rules, including those related to fake websites, are at various stages of the investigation, with suspects in three cases prosecuted and fined.
Only Ghanaian candidates are sitting for the WASSCE, which began on August 1, 2022, and will end on July 2, 2022, after the country could not adjust its academic calendar after the COVID-19 break to allow its candidates to join four other countries that sat for the examination in May/June.
A total of 422,883 candidates – 203,753 males and 219,130 females – from 977 schools consisting of 673 government schools and 304 private schools are taking the exam at 775 centers.
