WAEC MUST SIT UP!

No academic year ends without candidates in the senior high schools in Ghana sitting for their final year examination. This exam is organized and supervised by the West Africa Examination Council. Teachers in the various schools invigilate the West Africa Senior Secondary Schools Certificate Examination (WASSSCE) for the exams council at a fee. But invigilation of this very important examination has become a snag for invigilators in recent times. This difficulty has arisen on account of the following grounds.

The West Africa Examination Council appears not to have stiff sanctions that could deter candidates from engaging in any act of lawlessness. As a result, candidates resort to all manner of misconduct during the examination. It's no news when an invigilator is threaten or even attacked by candidates. In extreme situations, candidates sometimes resort to spiritual manipulations of invigilators. There're cases of arson, mob actions and many life threatening issues meted out to invigilators. But some of these illegalities go unpunished.

Surprisingly, some stakeholders who should assist to safeguard the sanctity of the exam connive with and condone this heinous crime. An unconfirmed report points to some district directors of education and heads of schools sanctioning malpractices during examination. What may be their motivation? The ranking of schools after the B.E.C.E and WASSSCE annually is a needless activity. I'm not against competition, but this ranking creates an unhealthy competition. Directors and heads instead of doing the right thing opt for this misconduct to save their names.

There're unavoidable consequences if this development is not checked. The few teachers who always agree to invigilate this examination have two obvious options. They may either go by the saying that “if you can't clear them be with them” or choose to reject WAEC offer in the coming years. They may not be able to harbor the persistent thread on their lives. If this happens, the exam centers become lose and WAEC certificates will be cheap commodity in the market. And this will spell doom on Ghana education system.

This year's WASSSCE has just ended. My passionate plea to the WAEC is for the council to do a lot of thinking before the next examination. If the council lets go there may be chaos next year.

Zuberu Aliu 0203880632 zuberu2010@gmail.com