WAEC won’t compromise certificates integrity ― HNO

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Thursday, in Lagos, has pledged to uphold, what it called credibility and integrity of its West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) across the five member countries.

The Nigeria’s Head of National Office of WAEC, Mr Olu Adenipekun, made the promise at a media briefing ahead of the 37th annual conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) which is billed to hold in Abuja, the federal capital territory next week.

The five-day event, hosting by WAEC Nigeria beginning from Monday, August 5, and with a theme, “Innovations in educational assessment,” is expected to have over 400 delegates from around the world in attendance.

“Even at that,” he pointed out, “the council is not perfect and that is why we ensure that we improve on each diet on yearly basis.”

He, however, noted that the candidates for its exams are now having varieties of subjects which he put at 73 in all to choose from, unlike those olden days when less than 20 subjects were been offered.

“And these varieties of subjects are now exposed students to the reality of life and also make them perform better academically and in every other lawful endeavour.

Mr Adenipekun, who declined comment on the current controversy over the issuance of WASC results to President Muhammadu Buhari by Cambridge University International Assessment Education on the premise that the case is in litigation, explained what AEAA and its forthcoming conference are all about.

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According to him, AEAA is a 37-year-old not-for-profit making organisation to promote co-operation among examining and assessment bodies in Africa and encourage relevant examining and assessment activities among members.

He added that the association also share experience and knowledge on issues of evaluation and assessment; sponsor global participation in the field of educational testing and assessment within member countries, among other objectives.

Adenipekun, also a president of AEAA and whose tenure will elapse with the conference  said the Abuja conference, second to be hosted by Nigeria, and which would have representatives from many examination bodies locally and globally including the National Examination Council (NECO), Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) and tertiary schools’ exams and records, among others, would expose participants to new innovations and trends in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), among others,

He, however, said that the council had involved necessary security agencies to safeguard lives and property of all the delegates and others and that, there is no cause for alarm concerning security.