The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that four individuals have been apprehended after allegations that they engaged in examination malpractices in the current Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The arrests, which have been ascribed to the implementation of more stringent measures this year to counter exam malpractices, underline the commitment to maintain the integrity of the examination process, the Daily Graphic reports.
The measures are designed to create an environment that prevents students from engaging in any form of malpractice.
John Kapi, the head of public affairs at WAEC, confirmed the arrests to the Accra-based station Joy FM. He said the arrests were carried out across the Ashanti Region, Tema Central and the Central Region.
“One individual was apprehended in the Ashanti Region while attempting to enter the examination hall with prepared materials for the candidates.
“In Tema Central, a female individual was taken into custody for possessing a tablet containing information intended to be communicated to candidates. In the Central Region, specifically Dunkwa-on-Offin, two individuals were caught solving questions in the midst of the examination, which they intended to relay to candidates,” Kapi said.
The WAEC spokesman stressed that the people under arrest had violated the examination rules set out by WAEC.
“According to our rules and regulations governing the conduct of examinations at WAEC, any breach of these rules is promptly reported to law-enforcement agencies. Subsequently, those individuals are charged and brought before the court,” Kapi said.
A total of 602,457 final-year junior high school (JHS) students across Ghana are writing this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), which started on Monday (7 August).
The total number of candidates for 2023 is an increase of 49,049 over last year’s figure of 553,408.
The examinations will take place simultaneously for both state-run school and private candidates until Friday 11 August 2023.
Asaase Radio