WAEC to hire own invigilators for next conduct of WASSCE & BECE
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says in the future it will not engage teachers with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to invigilate the next conduct of WASSCE and BECE but rather hire competent individuals to be invigilators.
The not-for-profit-making organization’s decision comes after some GES teachers tasked to invigilate the 2024 edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) were arrested for involvement in examination malpractice.
The WAEC spokesman in an interview with Ghana News Agency said out of the 33 picked up, 19 were teachers who were supervisors and invigilators adding that three of those picked up had nothing to do with the examination.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) said those picked up for breaching the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) regulations were being processed for courts.
Describing examination malpractice as wrong, the Head of Public Affairs of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi said such practice does not properly help the Council assess the final year students’ potential.
Asked what measures the organization is putting in place to curb malpractice, John Kapi said going forward, WAEC would put in more stringent measures to weed out invigilators and supervisors with bad behaviours and attitudes.
Relatedly, Africa Education Watch citing international best practices has called on the WAEC not to use teachers with the Ghana Education Service as invigilators in external examinations due to the potential for conflicting interests.
“Some invigilators played a role in exam malpractices. The international best practice provides that teachers should not be used as invigilators in external exams due to the potential for conflicting interests,” the Education Watch noted.
The Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare further urged the Ministry of Education and CID to prioritize criminal investigations and prosecution of suspected criminals in the exam irregularities value chain to make that business a risky one.
He has also petitioned the Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reinforce the ban on the use of mobile phones by students in Senior High Schools (SHSs) to curb malpractices in this year’s WASSCE for school exams.
