Once again it has happened! Three papers of the on-going West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have leaked.
According to reports, some candidates in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions have profited from the leakage which was done via Whatsapp.
The three papers that have leaked, we on Today understand, include Oral English, Integrated Science and Social Studies. The point Today wants to state unequivocally is that these leakages are becoming far too many.
It is obvious that leakage of examination papers, especially at the Junior and Senior High Schools levels, is gradually gaining notoriety in this country. So now there is no guarantee at the junior and senior school levels that examinations will be free of any leakage(s).
Just last year (2015) we witnessed leakage of some Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) papers. And, as we all thought all was going well for our senior high school candidates this year, the problem of leakage of examination papers has recurred.
The question we on Today are asking is: Why do we continue to experience the recurrence of leakage of examination papers? In fact, for us at Today, we thought this thing had been nipped in the bud, particularly when we saw the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) take up the matter last year when news of the leakage examination papers broke out.
But what happened after the BNI got involved? Absolutely nothing! It’s clear that the BNI’s involvement was just temporary. And today we find ourselves in a similar situation. That is how we tend to treat issues of this nature. Oftentimes we are okay talking about it loudly, but do little or nothing at all to prevent its recurrence.
We have also heard the Head of the Ghana National Officer of West African Examination Council (WAEC), Very Rev. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollennu, state that his outfit did, in fact, put in place new security measures to prevent leakage of papers in all its examinations.
Well, we at Today believe that his outfit’s new security measures did not pass the test. The worrying aspect of these leakages and its attendant cancellation of papers is that it affects psychologically and the hard work of the studious student whose aim is to pass and pass well.
Now what it means is that a new date would have to be fixed for the canceled papers to be rewritten which will come at a cost to the candidates.
Indeed it is important we take urgent steps to stop the leakage of examination papers. It gives our country a bad name and equally does a lot of disservice to our hardworking candidates.
It is in this respect that we urge our security agencies to collaborate with WAEC to find those behind this year’s leakages so that the law can deal with them. More importantly, we call on WAEC to immediately beef up security to ensure that we do not have any further leakages.
