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Exam malpractice: WAEC bans cellular devices
In an effort to help curb examination malpractice in the country, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has instituted some measures to nip the canker in the bud.
The measures include banning the use of cellular devices at examination centres with immediate effect.
Consequently, invigilators, supervisors and candidates will not be allowed to use mobile phones and other such gadgets during examinations.
According to WAEC, the ban had become necessary after the results of a research which established that adults were primary culprits in examination malpractice at all levels of education in the country.
In addition, it said, no supervisor or invigilator would be allowed, under any circumstance, to supervise or invigilate candidates from schools to which the supervisor or invigilator was affiliated.
The Head of the Ghana National Office of WAEC, Mrs Wendy E. Addy-Lamptey, said ordinarily, a candidate would not go out of his or her way to look out for ‘Apɔ’ or external help to pass well in an examination, be it the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) or the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
“It is adults who are pushing these little ones to fall into the trap of examination malpractice,” she stated.
She further expressed concern over the fact that there was too much interference by adults in examinations which, she noted, was affecting the performance of candidates.
Mrs Addy-Lamptey also asked candidates and the public to be wary of the activities of rogue website operators who claimed to have access to examination questions but ended up swindling their victims.
She advised the public to desist from dealing with such people whose activities should rather be reported to WAEC or the nearest police station.
She gave an assurance that the question papers for the upcoming BECE were secure.
The ban on the use of cellular devices at examination centres comes a few days to the start of the 2019 BECE.
In all, more than half a million candidates from 16,871 schools will write the examination at 1,880 centres throughout the country from Monday, June 10, 2019.
Out of the 517,332 candidates who will write the examination, 263,616 are males, while 153,716 are females.
Giving a regional breakdown of the candidates, Mrs Addy-Lamptey said the Ashanti Region had 104,461, representing the highest number, followed by the Greater Accra Region with 90,584, while the Central Region will present 55,535.
The Western Region has 52,806 candidates, while the erstwhile Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Northern regions will present 49,127, 47,964 and 43,960 candidates, respectively.
The Upper West Region has the least number of 13,109 candidates, followed by Upper East with 22,001, while the Volta Region has 37,785 candidates.
In all, 1,880 supervisors will be deployed throughout the country, to be supported by 1,710 assistant supervisors and 18,136 invigilators.
Source: Fiilafmonline/Graphic