Introduction
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this morning’s press briefing on behalf of Management of The West African Examinations Council. We are grateful to you all for the diverse roles you played in ensuring a successful conduct of the BECE for School and Private Candidates, 2023. As a policy of the Council, we give regular updates on our examination to carry all our publics with us on issues. The written papers for the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2023 started on August 21, 2023 at all the 834 centres across the country.
2.Monitoring
The Council, working in collaboration with the National Intelligence Bureau and personnel of the Ghana Police Service are monitoring the conduct of the examination. We have also deployed our specially trained monitoring agents in order to increase our presence in more schools across the country.
3.Observation
The examination is being administered successfully and measures put in place to ensure test security from the printing, packing and distribution of question papers are in full operation. We have observed that the pre-examination activities carried out have yielded dividends as many of the schools are adhering to the rules governing the conduct of the examination. There is a high level of comportment at most of the centres on the part of the candidates as well as the supervisors and invigilators. It is, however sad to note that some of the schools have devised grand schemes for cheating at their examination centres. Information reaching us indicate that some of the schools charged their candidates varying sums of money ranging between five hundred and a thousand Ghana Cedis each to enable them get assistance during the examination. This practice has given those candidates a certain sense of entitlement and they want to be allowed to have their way. Proprietors of some schools have shown open hostility towards our monitoring teams prompting us to call for support from the Ghana Police to ensure their safety. Some persons have been arrested for attempting to bribe our personnel to make them look the other way so that the cheating could go on.
4.Examination Irregularities
Irregularities recorded during the course of the examination so far include:
I.Foreign materials on candidates in examination halls; quite a number of the candidates have been caught with prepared notes, text books and pages torn from their textbooks with the intention of using them to their advantage in the examination hall
II.Snapshots taken of question papers and circulated via social media, (WhatsApp platforms and Telegram Channels); some unscrupulous invigilators use their mobile phones to take snapshots of the question papers right after the examination commences and these are forwarded to the various social media channels. These Channels also trend the solutions to these questions to their subscribers. The Council’s security network tracked some of these snapshots to their sources. Social Studies 1 was tracked to Lawrence SHS, Sunyani where the teacher who circulated the post has been arrested. Biology 2 was tracked to Mountain High SHS, Agona Ashanti. Elective Mathematics 2 was tracked to Adu Gyamfi SHS, Agona Ashanti. We have evidence of snapshots of the question papers taken in a vehicle that was used to convey question papers from the depot to the examination centre, indicating that the question paper packets were opened in the vehicle.Investigations are ongoing.
III.Smuggling of mobile phones and other electronic gadgets into the examination hall; several candidates have been caught with mobile phones on them in the examination halls. During the Government paper, eighty six mobile phones were seized from candidates at the Otoo Memorial SHS, Bibiani. Some candidates have also been caught with smart watches.
IV.Impersonation/ Insertion of scripts;
At Only Believe SHS, Kukurantumi, a national service person attempted to write the Government paper for one of the candidates but he run out of luck as he was apprehended by our staff and handed over to the police. At the same centre, two other suspected impersonators absconded. One impersonator and his accomplice a teacher, were arrested at Christian IPS, Kukurantumi. At Ideal College, Lapaz campus, there was an attempt to insert scripts of seven absentee candidates into the script envelopes. It took the vigilance of our personnel at the centre to avert this anomaly.
The supervisor has been relieved of his duties and investigations are ongoing.
V.Inside-examination-hall malpractice/syndicate cheating;
this is very rampant and we have received reports of this malpractice from quite a number of our personnel. In some instances, solutions are written on white boards for candidates to copy and these are hurriedly cleaned upon the arrival of a WAEC inspector at the centre. Some invigilators were found with photocopied solutions to questions which were being distributed to candidates in the examination halls. Some of the solutions were also deposited at the urinals for the candidates to pick up. Those who were found culpable were apprehended by our monitoring teams and handed over to the police.
VI.Locking of school gate to prevent monitors from gaining access;
some schools have adopted the practice of locking their school gates contrary to the revised rules. At Otoo Memorial Senior High School, Bibiani our monitoring team was kept behind the gate for close to ten minutes. The team had to use an alternative route to gain access into the school. It was at this centre that eighty-six mobile phones were picked up from the candidates.
5.Alleged leakage of Questions
The Council has sighted a report that alleges leakage of examination questions.
We would like to inform our publics that the Council’s investigative machinery is on high alert and constantly monitoring the operations of the rogue websites and other social media handles where these posts are made. Some of the sites monitored are: Main Source, Exams Source, WASSCE 2023, BECE/WASSCE and House of Genuine Questions, Legit WASSCE Source. The Council releases question papers to supervisors from the depots from 8am to allow them to reach their centres to start the examination at 8:30am. The questions are usually sighted on social media after the commencement of the examination at which time all candidates are expected to be seated and issued with question papers. If anyone sights questions trending on Social Media after the release of questions from our depots and commencement of the paper, that cannot be regarded as leakage. This trend of snapping of question papers of ongoing examination and posting solutions to same is very worrying and undermines the integrity of the examination. The Council wishes to assure its numerous stakeholders that it will stop at nothing to ensure that sanity continues to prevail in the ongoing examination. We wish to use this this opportunity to caution members of the public to refrain from causing unnecessary anxiety among candidates and well-meaning citizens. Our doors are wide open and we welcome any individuals or groups who wish to discuss any issues related to the examination.
Conclusion
We wish to express our sincere appreciation to all who called to give information about the plans put in place by some of the Senior High Schools to cheat and their modus operandi. We are particularly grateful because you were willing to stand for the truth.
We acknowledge the excellent collaboration between The Council and the Ghana Police Service as well as the National Intelligence Bureau. We appreciate the immense support they have offered us The call to eradicate the canker of examination malpractice is for every single one of us. It is a shared responsibility and we all must make conscious efforts to end it in order to safeguard the future of our children. Let us not put square pegs in round holes. The future of our country is at stake. Supervisors,Invigilators and school proprietors who have made it their stock in trade to divert the attention of these poor candidates from their books to wait for help in the examination hall will have their names and particulars handed over to the Ghana Education Service for appropriate disciplinary action.