Minority Forces WAEC To Launch Investigations Into SHS Exam Leakage

The West African Examinations Council has been forced by agitations of the Minority in Parliament to launch an investigation into the leak of examinations question for the 2020 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).

The leaked papers are already circulating like wildfire on social media.

In a press release Wednesday, the Council described the development as unfortunate, saying it has reported the case to the Cyber Crime Department of the Ghana Police Service for due action to be taken.

 “The Council wishes to reiterate its commitment to safeguarding the integrity and credibility of its examinations and certificates respectively,” the statement said.

Earlier, the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament had called for the immediate cancellation of leaked papers in the ongoing leaked WASSCE paper.

A press statement signed by the Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee on Education, Dr Clement Apaak said the ongoing examinations does not merit what the Council is noted for.

“WAEC must also investigate the sources of the leakage of papers and the contact details of examiners, and hold to account the perpetrators of these crimes. WAEC must also ensure the safety of the remaining papers to avert the embarrassing situations we have witnessed the past few days,” Dr. Apaak wrote.

On Sunday, August 16, the Core Mathematics paper scheduled for Monday, August 17, was seen circulating on social media with worked-out answers.

When the papers leaked, a cross-section of the public had dismissed them as a hoax, however, they turned out to be the authentic question papers.

The stakes for this year’s WASSCE is extremely high, given the fact that the students writing the exams are the first batch of beneficiaries of the the government’s free Senior High School policy. 

The government is apparently eager to pass the litmus test of whether its free education was of higher quality than the previous policies. This has forced the Akufo Addo administration into a hysteria which culminated in the government procuring some 400,000 sets of “past questions” from WAEC, for distribution.

According to the Head of Public Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, the procurement of the past questions was needful since it will guide the students in their preparations and help them excel in their upcoming exams in April 2020.

According to critics, this unprecedented distribution of so-called past questions by the government is one of the factors that has triggered students’ craze for leaked exam papers.