Exam malpractice among ‘invigilators’ is for financial gain – WAEC

Financial incentives are driving examination malpractice among invigilators tasked to oversee the Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said.

Speaking in an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, said that the not-for-profit-making organization has not conducted a scientific study into the issue.

The WAEC spokesperson, however, said anonymous complaints suggest that some school authorities collect money from candidates to invigilators in exchange for illegal assistance in the examination hall.

“In some areas, we are told more is demanded for core subjects and less for electives. In other cases, students are asked to pay a token as they enter the hall,” the WAEC official said on the GTV Breakfast Show.

To curb the practice this academic year, he said the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) issued a circular to all heads of schools, cautioning them against collecting money for examination assistance.

“We asked that if indeed it’s something they are doing, they should desist. If not, we’ll have no option but to report them to the GES and, of course, to the police so that action can be taken,” the spokesman warned.

This year, a total of 461,640 candidates, made up of 207,381 male candidates and 254,259 female candidates across the country, are expected to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School.

The 2025 West African Senior School Examination Certificate (WASSCE) for School commenced with practical examinations. The written papers will begin on August 20, 2025 and end on September 19, 2025.

In all, 65 subjects will be taken by candidates, but each candidate will take an average of eight subjects. The 2025 WASSCE for School examination will be conducted in about 701 examination centres across the country.

In other news, the Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr. Peter Anti, has called on WAEC to increase the remuneration paid to invigilators and supervisors who oversee the Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

Speaking in an interview, he said the amount paid to invigilators per paper is woefully inadequate, which compels some invigilators to indulge in taking money from school administrators for mild invigilation.

“The money given to invigilators is one area WAEC must carefully watch, so I am looking to WAEC to pay invigilators what is due them. You don’t invigilate one paper and you are paid GHC14.00, which the amount is a meagre amount for a teacher”, he opened.

Dr. Anti mentioned that, due to the inadequate remuneration for examination supervisors, some heads of the institutions pay large sums of money to supervisors from WAEC and police officers to compromise the invigilation.

“I know some teachers, no matter what you give them, will still compromise, but if you are paying them well, this attitude of engaging in cheating where a whole institution can give a huge sum of money to the external invigilator and police officers to compromise the invigilation will be checked”, Dr Peter Anti said.