WAEC raise concern over parents involvement in exam malpractice

The management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) responsible for the conduct of national and International examinations in the country has raised concerns over the increasing involvement of parents in exam malpractice.

Describing it as a growing canker, an official of WAEC speaking on EduTalk Show monitored by Pretertiary.com said some parents go to look for questions for the various examinations to help their wards pass examination dishonestly

WAEC’s Deputy Registrar for the Arts and Business Subject Department, Lawrence Dogbetse said “Buying of question papers does not come from WAEC, but we know parents go around looking for them. It is now a canker, families are involved

I cannot just imagine a parent going around looking for question papers for their child to pass an exam. If the system requires students to think critically before answering questions, it becomes difficult for parents to justify buying exam questions.”

The Examinations Council official said it is for this reason the newly implemented curricular reforms are aimed at moving away from the “chew-and-pour” method of learning, focusing on developing critical thinking skills.

“Our examinations are tailored towards a curriculum so what the curriculum says is what we do. Ghana has developed a curriculum and it has a philosophy and a purpose

So what the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) does is we look at those philosophies and rationale behind the curriculum that we align our questions to those philosophies,” Mr Lawrence said.

Highlighted the various security challenges WAEC faces during the examination process, he said some question papers are intercepted during transit from WAEC depots to schools, with culprits snapping images and circulating them on social media platforms like WhatsApp.

“Some invigilators even snap the questions inside the exam room and send them out for solutions. There’s a whole syndicate involved. They all come together with an understanding that this is the game they want to play,” he said.

Lawrence Dogbetse added “We sensitise schools and students on what they should and shouldn’t do and warn them about the consequences of cheating

Our officers also visit schools to strengthen awareness and reinforce our internal operations to protect exam papers from being compromised,” he indicated.

Asked if the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) set multiple questions for examinations it conducts, the WAEC official said that the period of printing the exam questions will not allow them to do a variation of questions.

“Setting multiple questions for examinations could have been fine but the period of printing will not allow you to do variation of questions. We don’t do that,” the Council’s Deputy Registrar told host of EduTalk Show.