Education Think Tank, Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has called on the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to expedite prosecution of candidates who misconducted themselves and were arrested during the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
EduWatch in a statement issued on Monday said though it welcomed the partnership 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,” it added.
The Education Think Tank also said all 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.
Again, EduWatch said it was imperative for the Ministry of Education to resource WAEC to recruit adequate Non-GES External Supervisors at every centre during every paper.
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EduWatch also urged government to amend the WAEC Law because sanctions in the original law were currently outdated.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 The sanctions regime provided in the Law is significantly outdated, whereas the scope is too constricted to provide a responsive legal framework for a credible examination.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.”