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WAEC: Parents worry, seek intervention
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Aja Nwachukwu, Minister of Education
Parents of candidates participating in the continuing West African School Certificate Examination are worried and seek intervention to halt the trend of widespread leakage of examination papers.
Although, leakages of question papers and massive cheating may not be strange to Nigerians, but the extent of such leakage in this year’s examination leaves much to be desired, necessitating the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to organise a series of press conferences since the start of the examination two weeks back.
The examination body, at one of the briefings, fingered a gang of armed robbers, which it alleged attacked its officials conveying examination security materials that were meant for the on-going May/June examination.
This, the head of national office of WAEC, Iyi Uwadiae, claimed hugely accounted for the rampant circulation of question papers in key subjects like English Language, Government, Physics, Commerce, Chemistry and Biology, among others.
Business Day’s findings, however, revealed that candidates disagreed with the examination body, blaming corrupt staff of the body and some study centres for the menace.
Some candidates that spoke to this reporter believed that the level of leakage in this years exercise was unprecedented, thus casting doubts on the final outcome of performance when results are released later in the year.
According to Akpan Udofia, a final year student of one of the schools located at the Tolu school complex in Olodi-Apapa, Lagos, it is the serious-minded students that would be at the receiving end of the situation.
“Somehow, most of us who have prepared very well for the examination will suffer when results are released in September.
“I read very seriously in all my subjects but cancellation and postponement of some of the papers are beginning to discourage me from reading. I pray this will not affect the final results,” he stated.
Udofia may not be alone in this line of thought. Another student, who claimed he is re-taking the May/June examination having attempted it last year, feared that the widespread leakage may not only lead to the with-holding of many results but could abort his dream of entering the university this year.
For him, his parents have struggled to raise the money to enroll for WAEC the second time, while nursing the feeling that the leakage could make the examination body to cancel many centres’ results.
Reactions from most public schools within Lagos, point to the fact that most candidates keep trading blames on WAEC officials, coaching centres, as well as some teachers who they believe contribute to the menace.
They fear that if the trend persists, lots of Nigerians would not only lose confidence in WAEC but may compel people to seek education outside the country.
The plight of the candidates have made some parents turn to churches for prayers of intervention.
Investigations revealed that some parents bombarded last Sunday services with different prayer requests, asking God to intervene in the continuing examination to prevent WAEC from cancelling or with-holding the results of their children and wards given the degree of leakage.
A couple who spoke to Business Day after Sunday service in one of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos, believe that the general happenings in the country could only be cured by the supreme power from above. “We parents are worried over the way things are going in this country.
“We believe it is not ordinary and need to seek God’s divine intervention. He alone is capable of healing the land of these problems. Look at the WAEC examination, for instance, we hear that students are getting the stolen papers before the examination. I have two of my children writing the examination and nobody knows what will happen after the examination, whether the results would be cancelled or not,” the parents noted.
However, as parents and candidates continue to lose sleep over the on-going school certificate examination, the 56-year-old examination body is also devising strategies of curbing the situation.
Addressing the press recently, Uwadiae reeled out several strategies put in place by the WAEC vis-a-vis identifying the root cause of question paper leakages.
Some of these measures, according to him, include setting up of administrative panel, clothed with the onerous responsibility of looking into the general conduct of its examination and the probability of printing question papers outside the country as well as involvement of key transparent security agents in the conduct and distribution of examination materials.
The examination body, at one of the briefings, fingered a gang of armed robbers, which it alleged attacked its officials conveying examination security materials that were meant for the on-going May/June examination.
This, the head of national office of WAEC, Iyi Uwadiae, claimed hugely accounted for the rampant circulation of question papers in key subjects like English Language, Government, Physics, Commerce, Chemistry and Biology, among others.
Business Day’s findings, however, revealed that candidates disagreed with the examination body, blaming corrupt staff of the body and some study centres for the menace.
Some candidates that spoke to this reporter believed that the level of leakage in this years exercise was unprecedented, thus casting doubts on the final outcome of performance when results are released later in the year.
According to Akpan Udofia, a final year student of one of the schools located at the Tolu school complex in Olodi-Apapa, Lagos, it is the serious-minded students that would be at the receiving end of the situation.
“Somehow, most of us who have prepared very well for the examination will suffer when results are released in September.
“I read very seriously in all my subjects but cancellation and postponement of some of the papers are beginning to discourage me from reading. I pray this will not affect the final results,” he stated.
Udofia may not be alone in this line of thought. Another student, who claimed he is re-taking the May/June examination having attempted it last year, feared that the widespread leakage may not only lead to the with-holding of many results but could abort his dream of entering the university this year.
For him, his parents have struggled to raise the money to enroll for WAEC the second time, while nursing the feeling that the leakage could make the examination body to cancel many centres’ results.
Reactions from most public schools within Lagos, point to the fact that most candidates keep trading blames on WAEC officials, coaching centres, as well as some teachers who they believe contribute to the menace.
They fear that if the trend persists, lots of Nigerians would not only lose confidence in WAEC but may compel people to seek education outside the country.
The plight of the candidates have made some parents turn to churches for prayers of intervention.
Investigations revealed that some parents bombarded last Sunday services with different prayer requests, asking God to intervene in the continuing examination to prevent WAEC from cancelling or with-holding the results of their children and wards given the degree of leakage.
A couple who spoke to Business Day after Sunday service in one of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos, believe that the general happenings in the country could only be cured by the supreme power from above. “We parents are worried over the way things are going in this country.
“We believe it is not ordinary and need to seek God’s divine intervention. He alone is capable of healing the land of these problems. Look at the WAEC examination, for instance, we hear that students are getting the stolen papers before the examination. I have two of my children writing the examination and nobody knows what will happen after the examination, whether the results would be cancelled or not,” the parents noted.
However, as parents and candidates continue to lose sleep over the on-going school certificate examination, the 56-year-old examination body is also devising strategies of curbing the situation.
Addressing the press recently, Uwadiae reeled out several strategies put in place by the WAEC vis-a-vis identifying the root cause of question paper leakages.
Some of these measures, according to him, include setting up of administrative panel, clothed with the onerous responsibility of looking into the general conduct of its examination and the probability of printing question papers outside the country as well as involvement of key transparent security agents in the conduct and distribution of examination materials.
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