EduWatch calls on MoE to revise WAEC Act over examination fraud

Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) citing breaches leading to the leakage of some 2023 WASSCE questions on social media has called on the Ministry of Education to amend the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Act, 2006 (Act 719).

In a statement shared with AcademicWeek, EduWatch said Social Studies 1, Biology 2 and Further (Elective) Mathematics 2 papers leaked on social media about 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled time for the examinations.

“As far back as 2021, WAEC submitted at a stakeholder convening in Koforidua hosted by Parliament, with the Ministry of Education, Security Agencies and Ghana Education Service in attendance that, the sophistry in today’s examination malpractice and fraud was fast overtaking the deterrent relevance of the WAEC Act, 2006 (Act 719).

The sanctions regime provided in the Law is significantly outdated, whereas the scope is too constricted to provide a responsive legal framework for a credible examination.

This makes the pursuit of adequate sanctions/successful prosecution of examination malpractices/fraud culprits very challenging. The Ministry of Education must prioritise the amendment of the WAEC Law,” the Watch said in the release.

A total of 447,204 prospective candidates, comprising 211,834 males and 235,370 females, participated in the Ghana version of the International examination administered by WAEC at 834 examination centres across the country.

The total candidature represents an increase of 24,321 over last year’s candidature of 422,883. In all, final-year students from 975 second-cycle schools participated in the WASSCE, which was written for the second consecutive time in Ghana.

Ghanaian candidates wrote the Ghana-only WASSCE-SC for the second successive time because the other four-member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia — have returned to the May/June calendar and have administered the WASSCE for their school candidates.

The four countries have had their academic calendars streamlined to enable them to write the examination in May/June, as Ghana sticks to the ‘new normal’ calendar occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

As part of measures to ensure a smooth and successful conduct of this year’s examination, a total of 834 supervisors, 2,243 assistant supervisors and 14,907 invigilators were tasked to oversee the 2023 WASSCE for School Candidates.