WAEC says ready to host 2013 WASSCE for two batches of students

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has declared its readiness to host the two batches of final-year senior high school (SHS) candidates who will write the 2013 May-June West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The examination will have 409,832 candidates, the highest number of candidates so far in a WAEC examination in the country. They are from 724 public and private recognised schools.

In spite of the large number of candidates, the council said it had made adequate preparations to host the examination across the country.

As part of the preparations, first and second-year students would go on break to release their classrooms and teachers who would act as supervisors and invigilators.

The Head of Test Administration at WAEC, Mr Felix Akuffo-Badoo, made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday.

This year, the last batch of four-year SHS students under the 2007 educational reform policy will write the WASSCE. They will write the examination with the first batch of three-year SHS students following the reversal of the duration of SHS education from four to three years in 2010.

Asked whether the candidates would write two different sets of papers, Mr Akuffo-Badoo said the “level of the examination will be the same for the candidates”.

He said for security and economic reasons, the examination would not be written at all centres, adding that the council would merge centres where there were fewer candidates.

Also, schools that were found to have engaged in examination malpractice would be de-recognised by the council to serve as a deterrent to others.

Mr Akuffo-Badoo noted that before the examination, the council would meet with the various stakeholders, such as school heads, supervisors, district directors of education and the police, to brief them on the ground rules.

In addition, he said, the candidates would be briefed on the dos and don’ts of the education and that one key regulation was that no candidate was supposed to take foreign materials such as notes or notebooks and mobile phones into the examination hall.

With regard to security and the delivery of the question papers, he said adequate security measures had been put in place, while the question papers would be delivered at the various centres before the stipulated times of the examination.

He said once it was a school examination, heads of schools were responsible for accommodation, invigilation and supervision.

Mr Akuffo-Badoo said provisional results of the examination would be released in mid-August and that those suspected to have engaged in examination malpractice would have their results withheld pending investigations.

He, therefore, cautioned candidates to behave, so that they did not have their results withheld.

The theory aspect of the examination will begin on April 9, with the last paper taking place on May 17, 2013.

Source: Daily Graphic