Leaked WASSCE papers: Heads must roll at WAEC – VIAM Africa

• Posted on April 7, 2016April 7, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

A policy and research Think Tank, VIAM Africa Centre for Education and Social Policy, has called for heads to roll at the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) following the latest leakage of at least four papers in the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certification Examination (WASSCE).

Reports of the incident have provoked fresh public anger with demands for serious sanctions against officials who may be found culpable. Some students in the Greater Accra and Eastern Regions reportedly had access to the examination papers between 12:00am and 4:00a.m on the day the papers were written.

The Oral English, Integrated Science, Physics and Social Studies papers, were reportedly leaked with pictures on social media showing students solving the questions. Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Executive Director for VIAM Africa, Dr. Prince Armah, called for thorough investigations to be conducted into the leaks and the culprits brought to book.

According to him, “this hasn’t happened once, it hasn’t happened twice, it has been very consistent. We have come to a point in our life as a country that we need to get our independent examination body that can conduct exam for only Ghanaians and whose credibility can be vouched for.”

Dr. Armah added that the head of WAEC should resign and feel ashamed over the recent happenings. “Elsewhere, the WAEC director would have resigned. WAEC is responsible for organizing examinations.

They are supposed to protect the integrity of the exam. If anything happens that undermines the integrity of the exams, they must be blamed.” He further indicated that proper checks and monitoring would be done if people are held accountable for such occurrences.

Teachers not to blame for leak Meanwhile an academic Officer at the West African Examination Council (WAEC) who also spoke on the Citi Breakfast show on condition of anonymity, argued that the teachers and supervisors have no access to the questions because of the strict security measures put in place and thus could not be blamed. He expressed shock at the circulation of the physics practical examination papers that were to be written at 8:30am on Wednesday.

In the wake of the ongoing discussion, Citi News sought the views of some WASSCE candidates on the latest incident which may lead to possible cancellation of the leaked papers. Although some admitted majority of students were privy to the questions before the exam, they said they were unwilling to rewrite the papers. “It will affect us when we have no idea about this. Not everyone saw it and it will not be fair if it’s cancelled. We are not ready to write it again.”

Leaked papers won’t be cancelled –WAEC Meanwhile the West African Examination Council (WAEC) says it will not cancel the leaked question papers. A statement signed by Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, WAEC’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs said “the papers already written will not be cancelled. She said the remaining papers will be taken as scheduled and investigations will continue and persons found culpable will be appropriately sanctioned.”

By: Zoe Abu-Baidoo/citifmonline