11 persons arrested over BECE leakage

At least 11 suspects are being held by law enforcement agencies investigating the leakage of examination questions at the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said.

The suspects were arrested in Accra and Kumasi after the Mathematics questions got leaked on Thursday, September 17.

Before the examinations commenced, copies of the questions were already available on some social media platforms.

The Head of Legal Affairs at WAEC, Rev. Victor Brew, explained to Citi FM, in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com, that the examination body has taken an action on the matter.

“Now, with the issue of leakage, we have gone ahead and reported these allegations and also handed them over to the security agencies, specifically National Security and BNI.

“Some of the persons have been apprehended to assist with investigations into these issues of snapping of question papers after the exams have begun.”

“Yesterday, we had eight persons rounded up in Accra, three were also picked up in Obuasi and handed over to the police,” he explained.

Issues of examination leakages have been a perennial problem which comes up during examinations.

WAEC, the only examination body for final exams of Junior High Schools and Senior High Schools in Ghana, had to deal with similar developments at the just-ended West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The leakages have not been limited to Ghana but other West African countries under the operational regions of WAEC such as Nigeria.

At least two people have been arrested in the Bauchi State and Port Harcourt, Nigeria, over similar exams challenges.

There were widespread leakages in August in Ghana when SHSs students had their exit exams. Some students also admitted openly that they were allowed to copy from each other by school authorities during the examination.

The leak of the examination papers and contact details of examiners came to light after allegations by the Executive Director of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare.

“We have realised that prior to the Integrated Science paper, there were some leakages. It happened that whatever leaked appeared [in the exam] and students were elated. If you go to Facebook and you type Mr Right, you will see a page called WAEC exams leaked room run by Mr. Right. He has about 6,400 followers and the business is usually done on WhatsApp. I am only mentioning Mr Right because the brand was embossed on some of the questions we saw,” Mr Asare said.

The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) and the National Association Of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) condemned the act.

NAGRAT, in particular, was concerned about the security of its members who worked as teachers and examiners.

Public Relations Officer for WAEC, Agnes Teye Cudjoe responded that WAEC was concerned about its integrity and commenced investigations into the matter.

The report on the investigations stating findings or recommendations are yet to be made public.

WAEC further stated measures being implemented to prevent exam leakages but it seems it has been effective with the latest development.

Some critics have suggested a breakaway from the monopoly of WAEC whiles others such as Ashesi Founder, Patrick Awuah Jr., has suggested scrapping of the BECE examinations.

The latest development has received condemnation but some members of the public.