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How cheating in exams is devaluing the credibility of WAEC certificates

As the country is struggling with ways to curb the exam leakage ritual, Pulse writer, Albert Benefo Buabeng takes a look at the danger the practise poses to WAEC certificates and possible solutions.

 

The practise has become a cancer. The moral fibre of the people has been compromised. What is pathetic is the innocent student who always suffers when a paper is cancelled as a result of the leakage.

As it stands, officials have found no sure way of curbing the annual incident, bringing the credibility of their certificate into question.

“We are crafting a very dangerous society. If we are not careful, this society will have no values. I look at our system and I get sad because I think we are not promoting merit systems. Sometimes, even when you want to insist on merit, you become a victim of circumstances. The system is becoming too corrupt. We are creating a low trust system,” Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darko, a Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana told Pulse.com.gh

In 2002, the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) questions were cancelled due to a massive leakage. In 2008, the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) was also cancelled. Fast forward to 2015 and we had five papers of BECE cancelled on the basis that they have been compromised. In 2016, although examination questions were circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms days before they were scheduled to be written, head of National Office of WAEC, Dr. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollennu, insisted that what happened is not a leakage; rather, a foreknowledge of the questions before the commencement of the examination. Semantics! Can there be any foreknowledge if there is no leakage?

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Ironically, Dr. Ollennu, prior to the start of this year’s examination, said his outfit had instituted strict measures to stop the leakage of examination papers. Here we are!

The act seems to have taken a different turn as some teachers solve these questions, photocopy the answers and distribute amongst the students just so they get things right.

Renowned educationist, I.K Gyasi in an interview with Class News added his voice to the extent to which the practise will affect the certificates given to students.

“It’s frustrating and sad. I fear it will get to a point if you have a certificate, employers will disregard it saying you obtained it by deceitful means, but probably that person got it on merit.”

Why the leakage

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Many have gone hard at WAEC as being the cause of the leakage and obviously, the institution cannot absolve itself from blame. It is interesting we rank corrupt institutions in Ghana and somehow exclude WAEC. Yes, it has for several years battled with leakages of its examination papers in Ghana because it has refused to check it systems. It is an open secret that heads of schools connive with some WAEC officials for the papers days before it is scheduled to be written. In some instances, the police and WAEC officials on duty are ‘slapped’ with an amount to allow cheating.

Students are billed certain amount of money to be used in bribing WAEC officials on duty. While headmasters would want to portray their schools as the best, students who prefer studying answers while their colleagues study notes will pay even if their parents are unable to. Knowing they will be spoon-fed, these students do not take their lessons seriously but rely on the usual ‘apor’.

But what about parents? The inordinate desire to get their wards first class schools drives them to get the questions for their kids.

The over reliance on certificates other than skills is one other cause which cannot be overlooked. Arguably, the desperation to pass an exam and get a certificate fuels the leakage of the papers. The system is such that the student is supposed to reckon his stay in school in just a matter of hours; once he is unable to answer the questions, he fails. It is for this reason that Educationist, Anis Haffar, has suggested an overhaul of the educational system.

“What we are doing is that we are directing everyone to go and get a certificate but the focus should not just be on the certificate but skill development as a result of schooling… We have a linear type of education in this country where we assume that we can do the best for our children by taking them through the lower primary, upper primary, junior high school, senior high school, university level and, at the end of it, give them a paper certificate.”

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Conclusion

Some people have called on President Mahama to sack Rev. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollennu but unfortunately, he does not have the mandate to. The president did not appoint him. WAEC is an independent international organization which has been in Ghana since 1952. Although many, including Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt, have said officials at WAEC should be held responsible for the mass leakages, the public has a role to play. It is a collective responsibility. There should be proactive measures put in place in order to protect the integrity of certificates awarded.

As Dr. Aggrey-Darko puts it, "WAEC must sit up. They must examine its security system and have a way of getting core individuals who are almost like saints. We must build into it a lot of security checks. We need to do some serious introspection about the processes that exists at WAEC. The system is a loose system. Once WAEC sits up, others will fall in line."

The earlier exams leakage is solved, the better. Perhaps the call for the end of WAEC monopoly is the solution.

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