The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Thursday, said it would introduce an additional diet of its Senior School Certificate Examination for private candidates, in all its member states.
This would bring the number of diets administered by the examination body, every year, up to three, the others being the May/June (for school candidates) and the November/December (for private candidates) examinations.
The Registrar of the Council, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, disclosed this while addressing journalists at WAEC International Office, Lagos.
According to Uwadiae, the examination is expected to be conducted between January and February, every year, and will be pioneered by Nigeria where it is expected to take off in 2018.
He said the decision was taken to address the challenges faced by private candidates who are often forced to wait a whole year before they can resit the examination, in the event that they are unable to meet their targets in previous attempts.
He said, “Due to the fact that WASSCE for Senior Candidates comes up first each year, and the result is released ahead of the conduct of WASSCE for Private Candidates, the school candidates who wish to retake the examination usually have the opportunity of doing so with the private candidates’ examination.
“With growing concern among stakeholders over what they perceive as discrimination or denial of equal opportunity against private candidates, there has been a wave of agitation, criticism and appeal across the sub-region for the Council to find a way of ameliorating the agony of long waiting experienced by the private candidates who desire another attempt at WASSCE.”
He said many instances of examination malpractice could be traced to “the desperation sometimes exhibited” by this group of candidates.
The Registrar said WAEC’s other members states of The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Liberia, will begin the examination on dates to be determined later, while the Nigerian National Office would provide “at the appropriate time” details of “the scheduled dates, available subjects and location of centres” in respect of the 2018 examination.
The briefing was also attended by the Head of the National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Mr Olu Adenipekun, along with other members of his management team.