The West African Education Council (WAEC) has released an update on the conduct of the WASSCE for school candidates, 2021 at a press briefing which was held on 23rd August, 2021. This was done by the Head of National Office, Mrs. Wendy Addy-Lamptey.
The WASSCE for school candidates 2021, is being administered to 446,321 candidates from 965 schools, that is, 651 public schools and 314 private schools in Ghana. The total number of candidates comprised 221,437 males and 234,884 females which is an increase of the 18.78% over the 2020 figure of 375,767. WAEC continued to add that the examination will end on Friday 8th, October 2021.
They council however brought the following issues to the attention of the media, stakeholders and the general public;
1. “Eduwatch WASCCE 2021 Monitoring” Report issued on Friday 20th August, 2021. African education watch on Friday 20th August 2021 reported on social media that the Food and Nutrition Paper 3 schelduled for 1:30pm was leaked on social media at 6:00am.
The WAEC Council however stated emphatically that the information put out by Eduwatch about the alleged leakage of the Food and Nutrition Paper 3 is false, misleading and creating anxiety among the candidates and the public. The Council explained that the “Instructions to the Foods and Nutrition – Teacher” was distributed to Heads of School on the 16th, August 2021 to enabled teachers prepare for the conduct of the actual paper which was taken on Friday, 20th, August. The paper clearly contained only guidelines and was in the public domain so that could not be classified as a leak of examination papers.
They further explained that the actual paper requested candidates to prepare, cook and serve a three-course meal for an ulcer patient, the purported leaked question paper received from Eduwatch requested for a two-course meal for a lactating mother. Furthermore, all the screenshots question papers from Eduwatch was full of spelling and grammatical errors and that could certainly not have emanated from WAEC.
The council was happy with the matured approach from some media houses to ascertain the truth about the leaked papers. They entreated all stakeholders to be circumspective in their report of issues regarding the 2021 WASSCE Examination.
2. Operation of rogue websites/WhatsApp groups. The Council drew the attention of the public to rogue websites and WhatsApp groups which have purposely been created for cheating. They made mention of “Smart WASSCE Hub” as one of the many WhatsApp groups which solicited candidates to join for assistance during the examination. WAEC cautioned candidates to be wary of such activities of websites such as this which deceive them and turn their attention from their books. They reiterated that the security operatives are on the alert to bring perpetrators to book.
3. Plans by Schools to cheat. They Council stated they received tip offs from a number of concerned citizens of plans being hatched and monies being collected to enable candidates to cheat during the examination with connivance of teachers in the school. WAEC cautioned the schools in question and made plans to follow up with the necessary actions.
WAEC Council later advised all candidates to comply with the rules and regulations of the examination and the covid-19 protocols and avoid any form of malpractice which could lead to the cancellation of the results and being barred from taking examination conducted by WAEC.
