The West Africa Examination Council(WAEC) has arrested three persons for impersonating in two schools in Akyem Kukurantumi in Abuakwa North Municipality in Eastern region.
One of the suspects – a National service personnel was arrested at Only Believe Senior High School for attempting to write for a candidate while two others arrested at Christian IPS
“At Only Believe SHS, a national service person attempted to write the Government paper for one of the candidates but he was arrested by the police. At the same centre, two other suspected impersonators absconded. One impersonator and his accomplice, a teacher, were arrested at Christian IPS ” WAEC revealed.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is shocked by the overwhelming cases of malpractices recorded so far in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Speaking at a press briefing on the conduct of the 2023 WASSCE for school candidates, the head of public affairs for the West African Examinations Council, John Kapi disclosed that the culprits arrested will soon be arraigned for further legal actions.
“The numbers are so overwhelming, we are trying to categorise them. And so for now, will not be able to give you a round figure, but you can be sure that the numbers, you know, are quite big.We’ve mentioned Otoo Memorial SHS, we’ve mentioned Mountain High SHS, we’ve mentioned Adu Gyamfi SHS, we’ve mentioned Only Believe SHS, we’re mentioning Christian IPS, and we’ve mentioned Ideal College.So there are still a lot more reports that are coming in. Every day we get reports and each time we have to sit down and synthesize all of these so that we can place them in the appropriate categories.”
He added “It is sad to note that some of the schools have devised grand schemes for cheating at their examination centres. Information reaching us indicates that some of the schools charge their candidates ranging between GH¢500 and GH¢1000 each to enable them to get assistance during the examination and this practice has given some of the students a certain sense of entitlement, and they want to be allowed their way”.
Also some smart watches have so far been retrieved in various centers in the country while three supervisors under investigation for compromising .
Exam malpractices gathered by WAEC so far.
- Foreign materials with candidates in exam halls: According to WAEC, a number of candidates have been caught with prepared notes, textbooks and pages torn from their textbooks with the intention of using them to their advantage in the examination hall.
- Pictures taken of question papers and circulated via social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram: The Exam Council observed that some examiners used their smartphones to take pictures of the question papers before the exam began, and these images were then shared on various social media platforms. These channels also circulate their solutions to these questions to their subscribers.
According to WAEC, the council’s security network tracked some of these snapshots to their sources. For instance, Social Studies Paper 1 was tracked to Lawrence SHS in Sunyani where the teacher who circulated the post has been arrested.
In the same vein, Biology 2 was tracked to Mountain High SHS, Elective Mathematics was tracked to Adu Gyamfi SHS in the Ashanti region.
- Impersonation: At Only Believe SHS, a national service person attempted to write the Government paper for one of the candidates but he was arrested by the police. At the same centre, two other suspected impersonators absconded. One impersonator and his accomplice, a teacher, were arrested at Christian IPS.
- Attempt to insert absentee’s script: Ideal College La Paz campus was found guilty of trying to insert scripts of seven absentee candidates into the envelope.
- Exam hall malpractice or syndicate teaching: WAEC said they have received reports that solutions were written on whiteboards for candidates to copy and these were hurriedly cleaned upon arrival of WAEC inspectors at the centres. WAEC monitoring teams captured responsible individuals and turned them over to the police.
- Seized mobile phones: About 86 mobile phones were picked up from candidates at Otoo Memorial School.
Source : Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
