The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which will commence on August 16, is estimated to attract over 1.6 million students.
Mr Patrick Areghan, the Head of National Office (HNO) of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), revealed the statistic in a Sunday interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Areghan stated that the council was working around the clock to accommodate some schools that were still having late registration issues.
He said that the situation was having an impact on the council's activities.
Despite these obstacles, Areghan said the council was working with relevant stakeholders ahead of the 2021 WASSCE to ensure a smooth WASSCE for school applicants.
“Conducting examinations is not a tea party, as I have always remarked. It's a massive undertaking that will necessitate participation from all key parties, including the media.
“It necessitates extensive preparations, even more so in light of the country's escalating instability and the reappearance of the Coronavirus epidemic.
“As part of our investigation, we want to make sure that the lives of all individuals concerned, including council workers, as well as the materials, are adequately protected.
“As a result, our preparations for the successful conduct of our upcoming test are in high gear, and we are making sure that no stone is left unturned,” he stated.
Areghan pointed out that conducting examinations necessitated the expenditure of money and other resources.
According to him, the entire test procedure is a big financial burden, from printing examination materials, distributing them, and maintaining security, to recruiting ad-hoc employees and producing certificates.
Areghan stated that WAEC would continue to do everything possible to stay afloat.
”This is what the council has been doing, and we want to make sure we keep up the good work.”
He stated that the West African School Certificate was internationally recognized and that its integrity needed to be safeguarded.
”As a result, we will be coordinating with the federal and state ministries of health and education, as well as the police and other security agencies, to ensure that nothing falls below that standard.
Areghan explained, "This is in an effort to verify that all preventive measures are in place before, during, and after the test."
According to the HNO, WAEC members have been meeting to fine-tune methods that will ensure a smooth examination.
He urged schools and candidates to prepare thoroughly for the exam, stressing that the council would not allow any actions that could jeopardize the examination's integrity.
”There is no place for cheaters to hide.
“We want to warn schools, students, and even supervisors and invigilators that anyone who tries to break the regulations for conducting this examination will be held accountable.
“We will undoubtedly apprehend that individual, regardless of where the wrongdoing occurs.
“We have built-in systems to detect any act of cheating; cheaters will not receive their results if they are found.
“We will catch you using technology even if you cheat on our objective test. This technology is known as the Item Deferential Profile, and it has been around for a long time,” he explained.
The HNO encouraged parents not to encourage their children or wards to cheat in exams by paying for the questions to be sourced from con artists.
“We have done a lot of sensitization, reaching out to parents not to pay money to their children in order to patronize rogue website operators and other mischievous individuals who offer to help them gain answers to WAEC questions before the examination.
“I've never seen anything like it. Some even claim that WAEC posts questions on the internet on a regular basis.
“This is both amusing and deceptive. We have done everything we can to inform the public that there is no such thing as a "miracle center."
“This is a product of society, not of the council.
He explained, "It may exist in their psyche, but it does not exist in our lexicon."
According to him, there hasn't been a leak of council test questions in Nigeria since the last time it happened several years ago.
He claimed that what some members of the public referred to as "leakage" during the WASSCE was the result of internet fraudsters who registered and sat in the same hall as genuine candidates.
“They are given the examination papers, and while pretending to write the exam, they manage to snap the questions with the help of their mercenaries outside.
“However, these days, they don't snap the questions; instead, they collude with some unscrupulous supervisors and invigilators, who assist them in snapping and sending the questions using their own phones, following which the fraudsters post the questions on the internet.
“These same supervisors enable some candidates to enter the halls with handsets, even though they are aware that it is against the law, since they have been corrupted.
“However, the various ministries of education have done an excellent job in this regard, as they have taken serious penalties against those found culpable, such as dismissal or demotion,” he stated.
WAEC would not hesitate to send over any suspect to the authorities, according to the HNO.
“We have a technique of recognizing those who post these things to the internet and going after them; that is why we always need police cooperation,” Areghan explained.