Two days into the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) for School and Private Candidates, 16 teachers, some of them examination officials, have been arrested at various examination centres in the country over complicity in examination malpractice.
They were arrested by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and local agents recruited by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), and handed over to the police.
All 16 are being processed for court.
Arrests
In an interview, the Head of the Public Relations Unit of WAEC, John Kapi, said three teachers — Patience Serwaah, Oscar Ben Azumah and Thomas Gyimadu — were picked up for trying to assist candidates at the Save our Souls exam centre at Bekwai in the Ashanti Region.
Two others, Christian Osei and Kyei Baffour Alex, who were unrelated to the examination but came around the same centre, were also arrested for attempting to assist the candidates.
Mr Kapi said at the Jinijini Senior High School examination centre in the Bono Region, two invigilators, Kingsley Boateng and Atibu James, were apprehended for taking snapshots of the English Language question papers and posting them on a WhatsApp platform named “Koraso Ma JHS”, while at the Nkoranza Senior High School centre in the Bono East Region, an invigilator, Abeam Danso, was arrested with a mobile phone on which answers to the Religious and Moral Education questions were found.
Mr Kapi further added that at the Chemu Senior High School centre in Tema in the Greater Accra Region, a teacher, Amoako Joseph, was arrested for taking pictures of the question papers and posting them on a platform named “Apor Lord for BECE 2024”, while an invigilator at the Liberty Hills School centre in the Greater Accra Region, Patrick Faaweerie, was arrested for taking pictures of the Science paper.
At the Jachie Pramso examination centre in the Ashanti Region, an invigilator, Ebenezer Danso, had a phone on him in the examination hall, while a second invigilator, Emmanuel Mensah, had pieces of paper containing answers to the questions of the English Language paper.
Four teachers from DESVY International School were arrested at the Santoe Basic School examination centre in the Greater Accra Region.
They were Thomas Ativor, 37, a Twi Language teacher; Emmanuel Ammisah, 47, a Mathematics teacher; Edwin Goodluck, 39, a Science teacher, and Richard Boateng, 32, a Computing teacher.
Mr Kapi said the four were found on their school bus solving the Science questions for onward transmission to their students in the examination hall.
Briefing sessions
He explained further that before the commencement of the examination, briefing sessions were held with district directors and supervisors mainly to keep them abreast of the new rules governing the examinations.
“Among other things, the supervisors were prohibited from bringing along mobile phones to the examination centres.
“A stern warning was issued against this practice. However, some chose not to heed this advice, and so have been arrested,” Mr Kapi told the Daily Graphic.
Advice to candidates
The WAEC official said the council wished to advise all candidates to desist from soliciting assistance from invigilators, supervisors or any other external persons around the examination centres.
“Any such attempt is a breach of the rules of the examination. The questions are certainly within the reach of the candidates, and we believe that given the tuition they have all received, they should be able to answer and pass without seeking any form of assistance from any quarters.
“We do not want to be pushed into the unpleasant situation of cancelling any subject or the entire results of any candidate. We wish the candidates well in the rest of the papers,” Mr Kapi said.
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