In its renewed
effort to stamp
out examination
malpractices, the West African
Examinations
Council, WAEC, says it will henceforth cancel the entire results of any
candidate who
cheats in more
than one subject.

The examination
body revealed this in a communique it issued at the end of the council’s 55th Nigeria Examinations
Committee, NEC, meeting held in Lagos.

In the communiqué,
which was signed by the WAEC Deputy Director (Public Affairs), Mr Yusuf Ari, the
council said it
became necessary to review its rules on examination
malpractice.
The exam body
said that it
observed with
concerns the
indictment of
some candidates
for malpractice in more than one
subject in the
November/
December, 2012
West African
Senior Secondary
Certificate
Examination,
WASSCE.

According to the
council “in order to check the ugly
trend, the committee
subsequently
decided that the
sanction in the
council’s rules and regulations should be reviewed.

“It is clear that
there is an urgent need to review the rule on such cases from cancellation of subject result to cancellation of
entire results”.

It observed that
collusion and
irregular activities, inside and outside the examination hall, were the most prevalent forms of examination
malpractice.
It, however, stated that
monitoring by
members of staff of the council and other stakeholders as
well as recent
innovations were exposing
examination cheats.

“Members believed that if the principal of a school decides
that examination
malpractice should not be allowed in his or her school, cases of malpractice will be very minimal”, it said.

WAEC said that the NEC endorsed
posting of WASSCE
irregularities,
special and
clemency cases on the council’s website.
It equally raised
the alarm over the existence of a rogue website
where false
questions and
answers were
posted daily to
defraud
candidates during
examinations,
adding that it had neutralised the activities of those operators.