The Registrar of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Dr Iyi Uwadiae, says malpractice is one of the greatest challenges facing the council.
Uwadiae made this remark at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Lagos.
According to him, malpractice has the tendency to mar the entire examination processes.
Cue in (Malpractice)
“The issue of exam malpractice is a major challenge to us as an examining body.
“You know that exam malpractice can mar your examination processes.
“We start from the commissioning of item writers, you moderate your items, you print your questions and at the tail end, when you are administering and, perhaps, just one question paper is stolen before the day of exam.
“And when there is a leakage, the entire processes involved in the production of the question paper for that subject are gone; you have to start all over again because WAEC does not compromise.
“If we confirm leakage, we cancel that exam. If you do it 10 times, we will cancel it 10 times.
“And you know that our questions are taken in the five member countries, so if it happens in one country, it means all the other countries will be affected, especially in this age of technology.
“So you cannot take anything for granted that oh something has happened in one remote local government in Kwara State for example; oh it will not…no.
“If it happen there, be very sure, with Whatsapp and all what not, it would have reached Sierra Leone; it would have reached Ghana and all that.
“So it is a major challenge.
Cue out (Malpractice)
Uwadiae said that in recent times, the council has been conducting hitch-free examinations because of the cutting-edge technology it has put in place.
In dealing with culprits of examination malpractice, the Registrar said that although there were penalties, WAEC does not have power to prosecute them.
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“WAEC does not really have a role to play, apart from if anything of such happen; leakage or any other exam malpractice related cases, we report to the Police.
“And the Police will take it up from there; so ours is just to monitor to see the process.
“We have a very vibrant legal department, but we cannot prosecute; it is a State versus that person; so, ours is to look.
“Except one case that happened some few years back that was taken to its logical conclusion and the people involved were convicted, other cases are still pending.
“The cases are not dead but they are pending.
“That is why we, as an organisation, are more interested in preventing it (malpractice) happening.
“It is very expensive to prevent because if a paper leaked, we are going to spend a huge sums of money to reprint.
Cue out (Malpractice) 1
At the council level, he said there was a committee saddled with responsibility of penalising or vindicating alleged examination malpractice by candidates.
According to him, members of the committee, which meets twice a year to treat all cases with exhibits, comprised of all stakeholders in the education sector. (NAN)