National security to investigate exam leakage
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has tasked the National Security to commence investigations into the leakage of some papers in the ongoing 2013 May/June West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
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On Monday, April 29, WAEC announced the cancellation of the Government One and Two papers which they believed had been compromised.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Head of Test Administration at WAEC, Mr Felix Akuffo-Badoo, said the council was fervently waiting for the security agency to complete their investigations to enable his outfit to know exactly what brought about the leakage.
"We took extra precaution to ensure that the ongoing WASSCE ends without incidents in the various senior high schools (SHSs) but what happened during the Government paper is unfortunate".
Asked whether the investigations would be conducted into other subject areas he replied in the negative. “It will be based on just the Government papers during which some candidates were found with materials which suggested that the two papers had been compromised".
Touching on security, Mr Akuffo-Badoo said currently, the examination centres were always packed with supervisors and invigilators who were supported by the heads/assistant headmasters/mistresses in charge of academic work, to ensure that candidates did not contravene the rules of the examination.
He also said beside the school security, WAEC had also been provided with Police personnel at all the examination centres to keep a close eye on examination papers being conveyed from the depots as well as ensuring that no candidates cheated.
"So far we are 100 per cent sure that the rest of the papers which had been written did not leak in anyway," he added.
He urged candidates not to give up but rather prepare for the papers which would be re-administered from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17, 2013.
When the Daily Graphic visited Accra High, Accra Academy, West Africa Senior High, Presbyterian Boys, Legon; Labone SHS, Presbyterian SHS, Osu; Accra Girls, St John's Grammar and St Thomas Aquinas, to mention a few schools, on Tuesday morning, there was either an armed policeman or woman at post, to ensure that security was not compromised.
The Headmaster of Ngleshi Amanfrom SHS, Mr Edmund Botchway, in an interview, said it was rather unfortunate that there was a leakage of questions during the Government papers, despite the tight security in almost all the schools.
"Students are simply impossible! In this day of social media and other platforms they go to all lengths to get question papers, despite the pieces of advice and tuition we suffer to give them".
Some of the affected candidates who spoke with the Daily Graphic, lamented that they studied very hard to write the Government papers without getting wind of any questions. Others also confirmed that they received some of the questions from their friends through the social media like WhatsApp and Facebook.
Story: Hadiza Nuhhu-Billa Quansah