…As Council Urges Candidates to Desist From Malpractice
A total of 1,621,853 candidates from 20,851 secondary schools across the country will write the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates this year.
Head of Nigeria National Office, (HNO), Mr. Patrick Areghan disclosed this at a press briefing on the conduct of the WASSCE for school candidates on Thursday in Lagos.
According to him, out of this number, 798,810 are males, amounting to 49.25%, 823,043 are females, which is 50.75% of the total number.
“The statistics shows that there is a further increase and decrease in the number of females and males respectively, compared to the 2022 diet.
“On the whole, the candidature for the 2023 WASSCE increased by 13, 868 over the figure of 2022 1, 607, 985,” he said.
He stated further that the examination will take place between Monday, the 8th of May and Friday, the 23rd of June, 2023 in Nigeria, spanning a period of seven (07) weeks and for the second time in succession, we have successfully reverted to May/June period for the conduct of the examination.
“Candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers. About 30,000 practicing senior secondary school teachers, nominated by the various State Ministries of Education, would be participating in the examination as supervisors,” he added.
While urging candidates to prepare for the examination, Mr. Areghan said the penalties for involvement in examination malpractice will always, without compromise, be meted out to erring candidates, invigilators, supervisors, schools, WAEC officials, etc, as would be approved by the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC), which is the highest decision-making organ of the Council that sits on examination matters in Nigeria.
“The Council, on its part, has rolled out several awareness campaigns, organized seminars for school proprietors, principals, teachers, students and other key stakeholders in Branch and Zonal offices nationwide to sensitize them on the ills of this evil.
“Similarly, we have made flyers, banners, posters and other forms of reminders to further keep the message afresh on the minds of all stakeholders.
“It is, therefore, on this note that I call on parents and guardians to encourage their wards to study diligently and desist from engaging in any form of examination malpractice.
According to him: “The mass media must play the watch-dog role. The various Ministries of Education should call their principals, teachers and other officials serving as inspectors and/or supervisors, to order.
“Supervisors should desist from allowing candidates to make use of their cell phones or availing the candidates of their own (supervisors’) cell phones. They should avoid writing answers on the chalk board or dictating same to candidates. Any form of aiding and abetting, collusion, etc, should be avoided.
“School principals and teachers should sensitize their students on the dangers of this menace. Every candidate and examination functionary must play by the rules, which are well stipulated in the WAEC Syllabus and Guidelines for the conduct of examinations, issued to schools. Erring schools will be derecognized; erring officials would be adequately punished, while erring candidates would lose their results,” he explained.
On insecurity, Areghan said conducting examinations under such a dreadful situation has been a daunting task. There are many flash points all over the country, and conducting examinations in such areas would require extra security arrangement.
“Consequently, we are liaising with the Inspector General of Police, Brigade Commanders, other security agencies and the various State governments to provide security in order to ensure that the examination is conducted under a secure and safe environment and we have been assured of full cooperation of the security agencies to this effect.
“If and when the need arises, schools in insecurity-prone areas would be relocated to safe havens, with the full approval, co-operation and participation by the Federal or State Government concerned,” he stated.
Highlighting the support of the Council to candidates in preparation for the examination, Areghan said the e-Learning Portal (Learning Support) is available as a way of helping candidates with learning materials that will equip them with the necessary requirements and expectations needed to write and pass their examinations.
“Students’ performances in previous examinations are analyzed with the aim of detecting their weaknesses and proffer solutions to aid better performance. It was this learning portal that resulted in the beautiful performance in 2020, during the hey-days of COVID-19. Candidates should visit https://WAEConline.org.ng to access the portal.”
“The Council has established a self-service system for candidates, through the CHATBOT Platform, to enable them access their entries, which in most cases, the schools do not allow them to see, contrary to instructions.
“The Candidate Self-Service is a service on the Request Management System/Chatbot (https://request.waec.ng) which allows students to confirm data uploaded for them by schools in order to make necessary corrections (if any) on such data.
“It provides two key services on the Request Management System which include Confirmation of Entry/Registration and Confirmation of Continuous Assessment Score (CASS),” he explained.
On achievements, the HNO disclosed further that the WAEC, being a foremost examination body, adding value to the educational goals of its stakeholders, has not rested on it oars, since the past seventy-one years of its existence.
The Council has continued to improve on its service delivery across board, by optimally leveraging Information Communication Technology (ICT) in a fast growing and fast-paced digital world. Under my watch, great strides have been made in the following areas: Edustat; Digital Certificate; E-Library for Candidates & Other Stakeholders; Robust Computer Based Test Services; WAEC Chatbot; WAEC Verify and Centre Locator.”
BV.