Examination malpractice worries WAEC — Official

Lagos—The West African Examinations Council,

WAEC, at the weekend, identified examination

malpractice as a major challenge militating against

its operations in its 64 years of existence.

The council’s Head of Test Administration, Mrs

Frances Iweha-Onukwu, disclosed this in Lagos.According to her, the scourge is a canker worm

that has eaten deep in the fabric among

candidates, not only in Nigeria, but also in

member countries.

She, however, noted that the council was gradually

winning the war as it kept introducing new cutting-

edge technology to stop the ugly trend.

“One major challenge we are battling against, since

inception, has been that of examination

malpractice, but we are happy that we are winning

the war.

“We know that the candidates might want to beat

our technology, but we will continue to make sure

that we check them in any way they try,” she said.

According to Iweha-Onukwu, another major

challenge is the ‘rogue website’.

“Tackling ‘rogue website’ has been a serious

challenge the board is facing,” she said.

A rogue website is one that subverts a legitimate

web site by appearing to replace it.

Iweha-Onukwu said that perpetrators of such act

use rogue website to distract lazy candidates, who,

instead of studying hard for their examination,

busy themselves logging onto the rogue website.

She, however, said that many operators of the fake

sites were being apprehended with the help of

security agents.

The official said her desire was to see the council

compete favourably with international

examination bodies like the Educational Testing

Service, ETS, among others.