WAEC seizes over 50 smartwatches at the various WASSCE centres

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has seized more than 50 smartwatches from final-year Senior High School students participating in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School.

This is because it is against the not-for-profit-making organization (WAEC) rules governing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for candidates to possess electronic devices during the International examination.

Aside from the seizer of the smartwatches, the conduct of the Ghana version of the International examination (WASSCE) has been hit by lateness, a situation the National Office of WAEC, Rosemond Wilson has described as worrying.

For instance, at the Osu Presbyterian SHS, about 16 students who were supposed to be seated at 8:30 a.m. for the Social Studies Paper II at 9:00 a.m., arrived at 9:25 a.m. As a result, they were prevented from entering the examination hall.

Citing traffic congestion and sickness as reasons for their late arrival at the examination centres. the students were later permitted to write the paper by the headmaster after several pleas, 40 minutes into the 2024 WASSCE for School.

A similar situation occurred at Labone Senior High School located in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, where seven students were not allowed to take part in the WASSCE because they came in an hour after the start of the paper.

Expressing worry about the situation, the WAEC head said “In our rules and regulations, students are supposed to be seated 30 minutes before the start of the paper; so supervisors are to adhere to this rule and regulation for the smooth start of the paper.”

The Head of National Office (HNO) of the not-for-profit-making organization said supervisors were expected to write detailed reports on why the students were not allowed to write the papers for WAEC to take further action.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who also inspected the examination centre at Labone SHS, said the government was committed to ensuring that financial obligations to WAEC were settled on time to enable the body to discharge its mandate effectively.

“From time to time you hear some level of indebtedness and we respond timeously to ensure that even if we do not pay fully, we are able to put forth a substantial amount for them to be cushioned,” the Education Minister said.

The Deputy Education Minister in Charge of General Education added that every quarter, the central government made some payment, adding: “We will continue to do more to ensure that West African Examinations Council does not get stressed.”

A total of 460,611 candidates representing 212,954 males and 247,657 females from 1,003 Senior High Schools across the country will participate in the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School.

Ongoing at 1,000 centres across the country, the management of the not-for-profit-making organization in a statement sighted by Pretertiary.com said the figure is 2.66% higher than the 2023 entry figure of 448,674.