Investigations into the results of 289 private West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates whose results were withheld have been started by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
The Council said that the candidates had engaged in several examination malpractices, such as impersonation, bringing foreign objects into the exam room (such as cell phones), and asking for outside help, among other things.
The results of 2023 provisional results for private WASSCE candidates were announced by WAEC in a press release on Tuesday, February 20. The statement stated that the results of these candidates would either be released or canceled based on the findings of the investigations.
The head of WAEC’s public affairs, John Kapi, stressed to JoyNews that the results of these candidates were kept secret because of what their officers who visited the centers to conduct inspections saw.
“There were instances of collusion where individuals were seen exchanging documents, and it was clear that they had written identical texts.
We also had instances of impersonation, where someone registered but didn’t think they could write, so they hired someone to write for them. During this process, we were able to capture a few of the impersonators.
“Someone brought in pamphlets and prepared notes from outside, while others came in with cell phones. The paper’s cost would go outside, pick up some materials, and come in, seemingly to see if they could get any help or assistance with whatever material they were bringing in,” the speaker stated.
Mr. Kapi announced that the results that were withheld will be categorized, emphasizing that each category has the potential to either cancel the subject results or the entire set of results.
After you are discovered in possession of foreign material, you write a statement, which we then staple to the foreign material.
When the time comes, we will take up your script and make a comparison between the information in that foreign material and the information in your answer booklet.
“If there are parallels, it indicates that you did benefit from bringing in something external, and we will proceed to take the necessary action,” he remarked.
“For impersonation cases, we will cancel and then bar the candidate for several years, a maximum of three years,” stated the head of WAEC’s public affairs in response to possible sanctions that go beyond the annulment of the subject or overall results.
“Then we cancel the standard results for everything else, and we cancel the entire results for mobile phone infractions.”
