By Dayo Adesulu
West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has lamented the rate of examination malpractice among students, vowing to publish names of erring students, supervisors and schools as well as sanction them.According to the Head of Public Affairs WAEC, Demianus Ojijeogu, the decision to publish names of culprits was part of resolutions of the 66th Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) at Ogba, Lagos. “Candidates, invigilators and supervisors caught aiding and abetting examination malpractice will be sanctioned as WAEC, ANCOPSS and states Ministries of Education will publish their names to serve as a deterrents to others”, he said.
While calling on all stakeholders to intensify efforts in the fight against examination malpractice, the Committee urged states Ministries of Education to look at the calibre and integrity of teachers nominated as supervisors of public examinations. “States Ministries of Education and school principals are to check the ugly trend by looking at the calibre and integrity of teachers nominated as supervisors for public examinations,’’ he said adding that “it’s lamentable that examination malpractice was still rife among candidates during the West African School Certificate Examinations .The Committee observed that even with the commendable efforts of the Council in the fight against examination malpractice, impersonation was rampant.’’
His added:”In the course of considering the various reported cases of malpractice, the Committee, after diligent deliberations, approved appropriate sanctions in all established cases of malpractice as prescribed by the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the Council’s examinations. Specifically, it was recommended that entire results of candidates involved in proven cases be cancelled.In addition, some candidates will also suffer other sanctions such as being barred from sitting for the Council’s examinations for a certain number of years and erring schools will be de-recognised for a specified number of years while erring supervisors will be formally reported to their employers and blacklisted. Also erring invigilators will be reported to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary action. The decisions of the Committee will be implemented without delay and the affected candidates and schools duly informed by the Council. However, results of candidates who were exonerated by the Committee will be released”.
