WAEC honours best candidates

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is asking governments, law enforcement agencies and ICT companies/experts in the sub-region to collaborate with examining boards and other educational institutions in fashioning out more sustainable interventions that could rid the school system of assessment frauds.

While commending the management and staff of its country offices and headquarters for the successful conduct of examinations, early release of results and prompt issuance of certificates, the council, however, expressed worry over the depth and dimensions of irregularities in public examinations.

WAEC annual meeting

This was contained in a statement signed and issued by the Head of Public Affairs of the Council, Mr Abiodun Aduloju, at the end of the 67th annual meeting of the WAEC in Freetown Sierra Leone, attended by delegates from the five participating countries, namely: The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Every year, the council holds its meeting among the five member countries on a rotational basis.

Deliberations

At the 67th meeting, the council reviewed the activities and operations of the organisation in the five member countries in the past year.

It considered reports from its national and international committees on various aspects of the organisation’s operations and ratified the decisions taken on its behalf by the committees.

It also deliberated on the action plans presented by the committees and national offices, and firmed up strategies for hitch-free operations in the current year.

Excellence Award winners

A major highlight of the meeting was the honouring of the best candidates of the 2018 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Two Ghanian students and a Nigerian who topped in the WASSCE were honoured. They are Ms Brago Sarpong Afrifa and Ms Wilhemina Opoku, the second and first runners-up respectively from Ghana, while Mr Peter Seunara Arotiba from Nigeria emerged overall best from a total of 1,976,537 candidates who sat the WASSCE for school candidates in 2018.

They received $600, $800 and $1000 respectively and a certificate each.

Call for support

The statement said the council appealed to international donor agencies, corporate organisations and philanthropic private individuals to collaborate with WAEC by instituting awards for such students.

“It is the belief of the council that such awards would encourage more students in the sub-region to strive for academic excellence,” it added.

Appreciation to member countries

The statement said the council expressed appreciation to the governments of the member countries for their renewed commitment to educational matters and the conduct of credible public examinations.

On the areas that appeared to be lagging, it called on the governments to step up their interventions for further assurances of access to quality education, improved academic attainments and enhanced human capital development.

It also expressed profound appreciation for everything that each member country had done to keep WAEC in existence and provide the enabling environment for the council to deliver quality service for 67 years.

It further lauded the various people-oriented programmes and initiatives being implemented in the education sector of their respective countries.