WAEC to employ fingerprint scanners to check impersonation

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has over the years been faced with thousands of cases of impersonation in the yearly conduct of examinations across the country.

The council has been highly concerned over the frequency of such occurrences as it paints a negative picture about Ghana to its West African neighbours.

The council has since indicated that it is taking serious measures to nip examination malpractices, especially, impersonation in the bud.

Speaking in an interview with Happy 98.9 FM’s Samuel Eshun, the Head of Public Affairs of the Ghana Office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Agnes Teye-Cudjoe said, “We have deployed the use of fingerprint scanners to check impersonation during this year’s exams.”

She noted that this is part of measures to check the many examination malpractices in the country.

When asked by Samuel Eshun how this could be possible, she explained that the registration exercise for the examination for candidates included a biometric feature where the fingerprints of candidates were captured.

Agnes emphasized that the fingerprints of students will be checked and identities verified as part of checks during the examination period. She proceeded to advice students to focus on their books and prepare adequately for their exam.“The exam is based on what they have learnt. It is from their syllabus and if they prepare adequately, they will succeed,” she said.

The council has also managed to plaster posters on the compounds of various schools on the do’s and don’ts of examination and advised final year students to pay attention to these notices.

She also advised students to get to examination centres at least an hour to their exam because of new safety protocols the council has put in place to protect students from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics by the WAEC has shown a continuous decrease in cases of examination malpractice over the years. The council believes that if they keep adopting technology at their disposal, the incidence of examination malpractice will be a thing of the past.