The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) at the weekend, identified examination malpractices as total nuisances militating against its operations in its 64 years of existence.
Mrs Frances Iweha-Onukwu, WAEC’s Head of Test Administration, disclosed in Lagos that the scourge is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of candidates, not only in Nigeria, but also in other 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 website by appearing to replace it.
Iweha-Onukwu said that perpetrators of such act use rogue websites 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.
-Vanguard
