8,599 Students Caught Cheating In WASSCE

A total of 8,599 candidates from 178 second cycle schools nationwide who sat for last year’s maiden edition of the May/June West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination [WASSCE] were involved in mass cheating.

As a result, the entire subject results of 5,394 candidates were cancelled while the entire results of 19 other candidates were also cancelled.

'High incidence of examination malpractices which in some cases involved teachers were recorded at Boso Secondary Technical School in the Eastern Region, Maabang Secondary Technical School in the Ashanti Region, Cheriponi Secondary Technical School, Northern Region and Mozano Community Secondary Technical School in the Central Region,' the acting Director-General, Michael Nsowah has said.

He told the Times in Accra last Friday that, all reported cases of malpractices were thoroughly investigated and those found culpable were punished.

Mr. Nsowah said the irregularities included sending prepared materials, notes, textbooks, programmable calculators, mobile phones and other electronic communication devices into the examination halls.

He cited an instance where some candidates left prepared notes in their answer booklets at the end of the examination and collusion detected in scripts of 3,714 candidates by the examiners.

The acting Director–General, expressed concern about the increasing spate of malpractices by candidates during examinations and called on all stakeholders especially the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools to support efforts to rid the system of the canker which has assumed an alarming proportion.