WAEC backs GES to dismiss officials involved in exam malpractice
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has thrown its full weight behind the Ghana Education Service (GES) to dismiss any examination official found to have engaged in malpractices in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates (WASSCE-SC).
The move, it said, was a step in the right direction to help deal with the canker of examination malpractice.
“Yes, we back it so that it would deter others from engaging in such practice because it goes all the way to ruin the future of the children," the Head of National Office (HNO) of WAEC, Dr Rosemond Wilson, told the Daily Graphic during a tour of some WASSCE-SC centres in Accra yesterday.
Places she visited included the Armed Forces Senior High Technical School Centre in Burma Camp, the Sakyi Asare-Menako Hall and the Accra High School, to observe the conduct of the Social Studies examination, the first core paper in the 2025 WASSCE for School Candidates (SC).
The Armed Forces Senior High Technical School registered 428 candidates for the examination. At the time of the visit, there was one absentee.
At the Asare-Menako Hall, there were two second cycle schools with a total of 71 candidates from Haavad College (29) and Hudai Twiliki International School (42), writing the examination.
The Accra High School had 652 candidates with one absentee.
Exams
In all, 65 subjects will be taken by candidates, but each candidate will take an average of eight subjects.
A total of 461,640 candidates across the country are expected to sit for the examination.
This number is made up of 207,381 male candidates and 254,259 female candidates.
The examination is being conducted in about 701 examination centres across the country.
Invigilator with phone
At the Armed Forces Senior High Technical School Centre for instance, an invigilator was found in possession of a mobile phone against the rules and regulations of the examination.
When the phone was taken and checked, it had questions of the Picture Making and Oral English papers that were written this year.
He was subsequently asked to write a statement as to why he took a mobile phone to the examination hall when he was supposed to deposit it on the supervisor’s desk and also state why he had those contents in them.
Dr Wilson confirmed the incident and indicated that invigilators were not supposed to take mobile phones to the examination hall.
“So, we have taken the matter up and we will deal with it,” she emphasised.
Dr Wilson said the invigilator would be reported to his employers, the GES.
On her assessment of the examination, Dr Wilson said so far everything had been smooth, and that there had not been challenges.
The HNO of WAEC prayed that the examination would continue smoothly until it ended on September 19, 2025.
Dr Wilson called on all education stakeholders to help the council to overcome the canker of examination malpractice, and that “we are going to crack down on this issue of examination malpractice so as to bring it down to the barest minimum.”
