West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Sunday, said it had concluded plans to host
international summit on malpractices in the sub-region as intense competition for access to education system led to widespread cheating in examinations.
The Registrar of the council, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that for the purpose of obtaining higher scores to improve their chances of gaining admission to the next level of education, some students do everything available to them to indulge in cheating during examinations.
He added that “the board of WAEC has been troubled by the rising scourge of examination malpractice and it is set to organise an international summit to address it.
“The summit will take place in Lagos between Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 to provide platform for stakeholders to come together and share experiences to enable us to arrive at a workable solution to this endemic situation in the sub-region.”
He explained that WAEC, being a five-member country organisation, was expecting representatives of governments of the respective member countries.
He added that “we are also going to involve people from the academia such as teachers who are our main stakeholders and others”
The WAEC boss, who noted that the summit was not going to be an annual event, expressed satisfaction with the performance of Nigerian candidates in Mathematics at the 2017 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
He said “efforts should be made to sustain the development. I must say that this year’s performance in Mathematics in the country is the best compared with results in recent past.
“I want to attribute it to more commitment on the side of both the teachers and students. I think teaching is becoming more effective and students are improving in their learning. My prayer is to ensure that this trend is sustained and improved upon.”