56 rogue side operators and about 15 others, including students, school owners, and teachers, have been apprehended for their involvement in examination malpractice in the ongoing 2023 May/June Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, according to Patrick Areghan, Head of National Office, Nigeria, of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
Areghan added that arrests had been made in Maiduguri, Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Umuahia and that the suspects will be given to the police and paraded on national television. He made these remarks while inspecting schools in Abuja on Thursday.
He stated that although 1,621,895 individuals had registered for the exam, not all of them might have shown up.
The supervisors, according to the WAEC boss, are the main cause of the council’s problems because they were heavily involved in exam fraud and made significant sums of money from students and parents.
While adding that the Ministry of Education had provided the supervisors as trusted help, he claimed that with just 2000 staff members at WAEC, they were unable to mark all of the exams, necessitating the involvement of supervisors.
He claimed that the inspection was crucial because kids took a crucial exam in mathematics on Thursday.
We don’t want students to fail; instead, we want to see them succeed. The only problem is that we can’t help them succeed; instead, all we can do is give them advice on what to do and what not to do. To make sure they don’t engage in exam fraud, we are speaking with them.
“We detained some students. We detained a supervisor, candidates, and other groups in Ibadan. While supervisors and candidates were detained in Maiduguri, a school owner who began the examination malpractice from the beginning was detained with others in Abeokuta. A candidate, a supervisor, and numerous other people involved in the unlawful act were detained in Osogbo as well as Umuahia.
In contrast to previous year, “we have gone further by identifying and apprehending the rogue operators involved in malpractice.”
Meanwhile, he cautioned the participants against using expo during exams, claiming they were bogus.
“Avoid copying what your partner is writing because nothing will prevent you from doing so. We want you to pass, but if you rely on cheating, that indicates you failed,” he stated.
The head of WAEC urged parents and applicants to stop hunting for expo.
Additionally, he stated that it is impossible for any WAEC officials to be involved in the process, and anyone found to be so will unquestionably be expelled from the system.
The Director of Senior Secondary Education, Hajia Binta Abdulkadir, expressed her sadness over the principals’ complicity in examination fraud, which she referred to as the root of all Nigerian educational issues.
She acknowledged her satisfaction with WAEC’s use of a variety of technologies to address the issue.
Musa Zuru, the principal of Government Secondary School Kubwa, also praised the progress made by WAEC and invited additional schools to participate, noting that schools in the FCT have a zero-tolerance policy for test fraud.
