Posted by Twenty employees have allegedly been detained by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in connection with the current West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.
The arrests, according to the Council, took place across the nation.
This was revealed by the Head of National Office (HNO) of Council, Mr. Patrick Areghan, during a monitoring exercise he conducted in a few schools on Thursday in Lagos.
He claims that the WAEC has since turned over all of the offenders to the police for legal action.
Areghan promised that the Council would take all reasonable measures to see that their case was carried out rationally.
“The problem of exam fraud cannot be handled lightly any more.
“Morals and values in our society have been utterly destroyed, so business as usual is no longer an option. It is assuming a risky dimension that, if not addressed, will bring down our nation.
Since the start of the exam, we have used technology that is intended to catch cheaters, and we are pleased with the outcomes we have seen thus far.
“For instance, we made three arrests in a school in Ibadan, Oyo, where we have our zonal office and which oversees Osun, Kwara, and Oyo itself, but I won’t divulge the name out of respect for confidentiality.
“There, a principal, an invigilator, and a center supervisor were all taken into custody. They were detained for allegedly taking pictures of the exam questions and uploading them to various platforms, aiding and abetting exam fraud.
Then, in Maiduguri, a supervisor and a school’s principal were each detained and given to the police.
“A teacher and a supervisor were detained in Umuahia in a certain school, and they were turned over to the police.
A school owner in Abeokuta was the first to be discovered at the start of this exam on May 8, he said, snapping and posting question papers.
Areghan called the deed a great dishonor.
The owner and a supervisor had subsequently been detained and turned over to the police, according to the WAEC official.
He added that Osogbo had a similar incident when a principal, an invigilator, and the main supervisor were all detained for the same offense.
He said that a supervisor and an exam official who were caught in the act in a school in Kaduna were also apprehended and turned over to the police.
He said that the school, which was given to Kaduna but was originally intended for Kano, was given to Kaduna because it was closer to that city.
The arrests, according to Areghan, would continue until the test’s conclusion.
Insisting that WAEC exams could never be accessed illegally, he encouraged applicants to avoid letting their futures be jeopardized by people who did them no good by promising to help them pass their exam through illicit means.
He claimed that all those arrested in the crime may have been paid by the gullible applicants and their parents in exchange for assistance in passing the test.
“I want to refute the claim that our exam questions constantly leak, which is one that certain people like to make.
“That is not real. Until they reach the candidates in the room, our examination is always secure, the man stated.
He claimed that WAEC exam questions are never leaked and advised the media to avoid using the term “leak”.
“In reality, when the test is ready to start, we give the supervisors the question papers one hour beforehand to allow them to go from the collection site to the various schools where they will conduct the test.
“What transpires?
“As soon as they enter the exam room, they will open the packet in order to distribute it to the participants, and they will take photos and upload them to specific social media sites like WhatsApp and Instagram.
According to him, these people belong to a syndicate group that collects money.
He asserts that anyone who posts photos of the exam materials online will be found out once the exam has already begun.
Areghan pointed out that the Council had a way to determine who posted, who received it, and which candidate’s question booklet was posted.
He claims that’s when the Council springs into action, collecting them all up and delivering them to the police.
“For this monitoring, you have been following me everywhere.
“You observed me warn these kids that since they are already in the test room writing it, they won’t have much time to view any documents taken and placed on any platforms.
“Based on what we’ve observed in the schools we’ve visited so far today, I’d say the exam has been running smoothly. No difficulties that were beyond our control have arisen.
“Of course, there will be people who want to get things done unethically and prove their intelligence, but we were able to go ahead of them.
Some of them, he continued, “we don’t trouble ourselves with; we’ll take care of them administratively.