2023 WASSCE Malpractices: Expedite Prosecution Of Arrested Persons – EduWatch
Education advocacy organisation Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has called on the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to speed up the prosecution of culprits who misconducted themselves and were arrested during the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
EduWatch, in a statement issued on Monday, October 9, said. However, it welcomed “the collaboration between the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and WAEC, which enhanced the security of the WASSCE questions, there were still some security breaches, leading to the circulation of questions for Social Studies 1, Biology 2 and (Elective) Mathematics 2 papers on social media about 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled time for the examinations”.
“While appreciating the swift investigations leading to the arrest of the culprits, we call for an expedited prosecution with outcomes made public”.
“We welcome the arrest of persons arrested by WAEC and security agencies for alleged collusion with candidates to cheat at some examination centres. A successful prosecution and publishing of outcomes is critical to building public and stakeholder confidence in the fight against examination malpractice and fraud,” the statement highlighted.
The education think tank further called for punishment for school heads/owners cited by WAEC for preventing their monitors from entering in real time must be sanctioned by the GES and the National Schools Inspectorate Authority with outcomes published.
Eduwatch again advised that non-GES external supervisors should be employed for invigilation rather than internal staff.
“WAEC’s Roving Monitors approach to augment the deficits in their capacity to deploy stationed WAEC external supervisors is innovative. We condemn the instances where monitors were denied/delayed entry into examination centres to buy time and conceal evidence of cheating at examination centres”.
It further urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to escalate the sanctions regime to an outright dismissal for teachers who misconducted themselves, adding, “This would be the boldest ethical statement of the GES leadership against the participation of staff in examination malpractices and fraud.”
EduWatch also urged the government to amend the WAEC Law because sanctions in the original law were currently outdated.
“As far back as 2021, WAEC submitted at a stakeholder convening in Koforidua hosted by Parliament, with the Ministry of Education, Security Agencies and GES in attendance, that the sophistry in today’s examination malpractice and fraud was fast overtaking the deterrent relevance of the WAEC Act, 2006 (Act 719). The sanctions regime provided in the Law is significantly outdated, whereas the scope is too constricted to provide a responsive legal framework for a credible examination. This makes the pursuit of adequate sanctions/successful prosecution of examination malpractices/fraud culprits very challenging. The Ministry of Education must prioritise the amendment of the WAEC Law”.
EduWatch, having more hope in the administration of the police and the judiciary, said, “The commitment of the Ghana Police Service and the Judiciary is even more crucial for ensuring the expedited prosecution of all those arrested for various acts of examination malpractice and fraud”.
Find the full statement from EduWatch below.