Exams Leakage: GNECC calls for permanent solution

The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition, Wednesday, called for an independent investigation into the leakage of examination papers of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to find the culprits towards ending the perennial problem.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) and WAEC, the Coalition said, should also provide a detailed report on the measures taken to prevent leakage of the 2020 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination papers.

A statement signed by the interim chair, Mr Joseph Homadzi, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, expressed the Coalition's disappointment at the turn of events despite the assurances by the two bodies that adequate measures had been put in place to secure this year's papers.

The Coalition, therefore, urged WAEC to explain the cause of frequent breaches of its examination system leading to a report of leakage every year.

"The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition is alarmed by recurring reports of leakage of examination papers and names of examiners in the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE)," the statement said. "It is our view that this is the time to find a permanent solution to this perennial issue to preserve the credibility of the examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council".

Two weeks ago, the statement said, WAEC sought to reassure stakeholders with regard to its vigilance and measures taken to ensure the smooth conduct of WASSCE for school candidates.

"It indicated that it 'had alerted the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police, and the National Security about the threats posed by rogue websites and WhatsApp groups,'" the statement said.

"The Ghana Education Service, on the other hand, dismissed the allegations as fake and assured the public that 'all efforts were being made to track those behind the purported leaked fake paper."

"Notwithstanding, we have been hit again by allegations of copies of answered examination papers such as Social Studies, Core Mathematics, and Chemistry Practical examinations circulating on social media platforms and the same questions appearing in the ongoing examinations".

Meanwhile, WAEC, in a statement, said it had initiated investigations into “a yet to be finalized version of an Examiners List for WASSCE School Candidates (SC) 2020 on social media".

“The Council has initiated investigations into the disturbing development and reported the matter to the Cyber Crime Development of the Ghana Police Service," it said.

In a statement issued and signed by Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, Head, Public Affairs, Head of National Office, WAEC also apologised to all examiners, whose contact details were unintentionally circulated.

“While apologising unreservedly to all Examiners whose contact details were inadvertently circulated in the public domain, the Council wishes to reiterate its commitment to safeguarding the integrity and credibility of its examinations and certificates respectively," it said.

The Council said its monitoring of the ongoing WASSCE (SC) had indicated that the activities of rogue websites were in full force with several fake versions of questions being circulated on social media platforms.

Additionally, the Council said it also came to light that fake version of the Integrated Science (2and 1), Social Studies (2 and 1) Chemistry three, Practical Alternative A, and Economics 2and 1 paper were also shared on social media platforms.

"Again snapshots of the Mathematics (Core) Paper 2 were posted on social media platforms after the release of the paper from WAEC Strong Rooms".

According to the statement, “Investigations into this issue are ongoing”, and gave the assurance that WAEC would continue to roll out various measures 'to deal with the illegal activities to ensure fairness to all candidates and maintain the integrity of examination'.

It assured its stakeholders and the public that its marking process, which had been tested over the years, ensured fairness, saying, these processes involve swapping of scripts across regions, vetting of scripts by Assistant Examiners by Team Leaders, vetting of Team leaders scripts by chief Examiners, among others.

However, the Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has called on the WAEC, to act swiftly in cancelling any leaked papers.

“It is extremely worrying and a disturbing trend for names, email addresses, location, and contact numbers of examiners to be put in circulation on social media and the public space," it said.