WAEC to state govts: You can’t intimidate us over sanctions on schools cheating in exams

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has cautioned the state governments and other stakeholders in the country to stop questioning its authority over sanction on schools, candidates and officials that are involved in or aided examination malpractice.

The organisation said sanction of schools and individuals found culpable of cheating in both its school-based examination and the ones for the private candidates is within its mandates and in order.

The Nigeria Examination Committee (NEC) of WAEC which is the highest decision-making organ on the conduct of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria gave this position in a communique issued at the end of its just-concluded 73rd bi-annual meeting held in Lagos.

The communique was signed and made available to newsmen by the Acting Head of Public Affairs Department of WAEC Nigeria, Mrs Moyosola Adeyegbe, on Sunday.

According to the committee, WAEC was not only thorough but fair and transparent in its investigations and judgments on reported cases of malpractice in its previous three examinations in review.

It noted that while some schools particularly in mass cheating were derecognised for life and some candidates bared for certian number of years from participating in its future exams or having some papers or their entire results cancelled, some others whose offences could not be substantiated were exonerated and their results are to be released.

“So, any attempt by the agents of state government or other stakeholders to intimidate and harass WAEC in the course of executing its mandate is not only condemnable but totally unacceptable.

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“WAEC should be allowed to continue to provide quality and credible assessment to Nigerian child and also sanction whosoever finds culpable of exam malpractice.

“So, all states, schools and individuals should respect and obey the impartial decisions of WAEC Nigeria over the conduct of its various diets,” the committee stressed.

The examination body said it would begin to report any case of harassment on its officials, particularly by any state government agencies to the higher authority.

While disclosing that the council recorded low enrolment of students with special needs in its recent examinations and that research would be conducted to know why, the committee, however, said some state governments without mentioning any are always in full support of its actions over sanctions of schools, candidates and exam officials that involved in or aided exam malpractice.

The organisation explained that all its examination questions and marking schemes for the three exams in view and those before them across subjects were based strictly on syllabuses and the world’s best practices with no ambiguity.

It noted that the issue was that candidates who don’t prepare well for the exams are those cutting corners.

The committee, therefore, noted that all the affected schools and individuals would be served their punishments while candidates who were exonerated would have their results released immediately.