Claim students use UV light to cheat in exams true – GES
The Ghana Education Service (GES) following a KNUST research indicating prospective students now use UV light to cheat during examinations says the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has looked at the issue thoroughly.
In his address at the WAEC Stakeholders’ Forum monitored by AcademicWeek, the Director-General of GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa said the Council is considering ways to leverage technology to improve the conduct of its exams.
“We at WAEC have looked at the issue thoroughly and over the years we have had conferences, where we look at various ways technology could be used to improve what we are doing as well as how technology is used to challenge us,” he stated.
With a collaborative effort, the Director-General said the management of the not-for-profit making organization is working tirelessly with various stakeholders to reduce cases of the use of technology to cheat in examinations.
Kwasi Opoku’s comment comes after a study by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) disclosed candidates now use UV lights which eludes the invigilators to engage in examination malpractice.
The use of UV pens, the Kumasi-based Science and Technology University research explained involves students writing the answers to the exam questions with an inkless pen on any material they are allowed to take into the exam hall.
The lead researcher, Dr John Boulard Forkour commenting on the UV light study said “In the course of the exam, all they did was to shine or focus the red rays of the pen onto the surface; then, all the answers would appear.
“Most invigilators are aware of other technological devices that students use to cheat but with the UV light, most of them are not aware,” the Science and Technology researcher, John Boulard Forkour stated.
One of the students interviewed by the researchers revealed: “They think it is an ordinary pen. Well, I sometimes tell some of the invigilators that it is an ordinary pen. I have an inkless pen that comes with the UV pen.
All I have to do is write all perceived answers on a sheet in my mathematical set and send it in. Thereafter, I use UV light to reveal the answers. Easy right?”
