The West African Examinations Council is gradually and stylishly sliding into a reputation crisis. It is a matter of time, if some definite actions are not taken, the foremost examination body in West Africa may become a joke.
From WAEC to students cum parents to teachers and government officials the story is the same. Corruption is kissing the sky; even those who pride themselves as angels are falling like a pack of cards and shifting ground to accommodate examinational malpractices.
A lady who teaches in one of the government schools in Lagos State held this writer to a one-hour chat chronicling her experience as a WAEC examiner and how it has become a nightmare for her working as a teacher. She had abandoned her corporate job for the teaching profession because of the need to take care of her family. She however confessed that the experience in the hands of both students and government officials when it comes to WAEC has become a big source of concern. She is almost regretting joining the profession. Her main issue is that many of the stakeholders in the education sector have institutionalised exams malpractices.
Threat to life
She has been invigilating and marking the West African Senior Secondary School Examinations for a couple of years. But the experience has not been palatable. She said she was threatened and coerced into allowing students of a particular private school to cheat in the exams. It was not just the giraffe style of years back during which students peeped into the answer sheets of fellow students. The students brought in phones from which they copied answers to the questions. The teachers in the school were unanimous in allowing the students to cheat. In another instance during the exams, the teachers were writing the answers on the board for the students.
She said a fellow believer who had been invigilating WASSCE for years called her aside during one of the exams and warned her to either cooperate or risk being thrown into a nearby river. It has got so bad that many of the students no longer want to go through the rigour of preparing for exams. They are so sure that they will be assisted when they get into the exam hall.
Victims of the rot
The lady who called is not alone in the valley of lamentation. A few other teachers who still value their integrity have been caught in the same dilemma. Another WAEC supervisor told this writer that she was scandalised the first day she got to a school and the students who were to write the exams did not show any sign they were ready for the paper of the day. They were simply waiting for their teachers to start dictating the answers to them.
Another teacher said many students no longer want to read at all. “The handful of serious students among them are the victims of the malpractices. These diligent students read and they don’t cheat because of their moral upbringing. At the end of the day, they don’t pass with good grades while students who know nothing come out with As.”
She recalled the instance of a student she was so sure was dull who had about seven As in the last WASSCE. “It is clear that some of the students who come out with very good results were helped to write their exams.” She said.
According to the lady, the cheating menace is rife in many private schools. She added however that there are private schools where their proprietors don’t allow cheating in WAEC. “But those schools are not many. A good number of private schools have perfected the art of helping students with their WAEC papers. They settle invigilators with as much as 20k for one invigilation. If it is for core subjects like English and Mathematics, it is the invigilator that will name a price. Some invigilators make as much as 250k from the exercise depending on the school”
Govt officials know
She said government officials across the country know that WASSCE has become a joke to some extent. The lady said in the last WASSCE, she marked scripts from a state in the north while some of her colleagues marked scripts from the east and the west. They discovered that many of the scripts have the same answers. “That is why I believe the exam body needs to do something urgent. The government has to rise to the challenge and stop this embarrassing situation if they don’t want an irredeemable disaster in the nation’s education sector.”
A few months ago, some university lecturers cried out on social media pleading with teachers in secondary schools to help spend time teaching their students. They lamented that many undergraduates are not living up to expectations.
“Some of them that can not cope drop out of the university while some find solace in some private universities that have compromised standards.” The lady said.
She revealed further that she is aware that some education officers in Lagos for example encourage teachers to help students to cheat. “Some of the education districts in Lagos with corrupt Tutor General give instructions to teachers to ensure their students don’t fail WASSCE. They discovered that many private schools are helping their students to pass and because of that, they don’t want to be left behind. They also believe that they can play the cheating game along with private schools.”
Schools with woeful result
Another teacher who spoke with Church Times said some of the schools in Lagos performed woefully in the last WASSCE because the students were not allowed to cheat. “But schools where they allowed cheating, they did well. That is not to say it is the case with all the schools. There are schools where students passed genuinely.”
The teacher noted that some of the schools tried as much as possible to prepare students for WASSCE. “The promotion to SSS 3 is keen. Several students failed in my school for instance. They were not promoted. However, we discovered that some of the students who failed and were asked to repeat withdrew from school and went to private schools to write WASSCE. They eventually had good results because those schools helped them. That puts undue pressure on those who are their mates in the school they left behind.” She said.
Parental factor
The situation is made worse by parents who pay money to schools to assist their wards in WASSCE. The lady who called shared the experience of a teacher in the government school who was embarrassed when an illiterate mother was appreciating her publicly in a loud voice for “helping” her child pass SSCE. The teacher quickly took cover when all eyes were on her.
A discussion took place on the Facebook book wall of Concerned Parents Forum shortly after WASSCE results were released. A parent had wondered on the platform why many students have lots of As in this generation compared to years back when candidates hardly passed at one sitting of the exams. Then, many wrote WAEC about three times before they scaled through.
A myriad of reasons were adduced for the excellent results of many students compared to years back. Many believe children of the present generation are exposed to more materials and they have access to more resources. That is why they are excelling in WAEC compared to years back when there were no resources for students.
The conducive environment of study was also adduced as one of the reasons students are doing well, especially in private schools. However, a majority believe many of the students who claimed to have passed so well were assisted in their exams. They cite many instances of fraud across both public and private schools. However, more people say cheating is more rampant in private schools compared to public schools.
JAMB VS WASSCE
A respondent, Nduka Somtoo Victor wrote on the wall, “76 percent of JAMB candidates scored below 200 this year, yet a large percentage of that number will be parading As and Bs in their SSCE results. They don’t know more than us, they don’t work as hard as us. They just have access to answers to the exam questions just before or during the exam. It is a terrible thing.”
Another respondent, Forlakeh Ala-Oye wrote, “We know book ooo, just that the generation that studied hard to pass is now assisting and writing for another generation to pass. If you don’t get it forget about it”
Cheating in WAEC now seems to be a normal practice in Nigeria. WAEC questions are believed to be in public space about three days before the exams.
The reason many failed Maths this year according to a teacher who prefers anonymity is because WAEC beat them to the game. She said, “The question that leaked was not the one eventually served. Many of those who had depended on the fake question failed woefully.”
The case of WAEC and students has turned to that of a mother and her crying baby who have mutual understanding. The institution seems helpless, teachers are helpless and would rather compromise. Parents don’t want to hear that their children fail while the ego of government institutions is at stake. WAEC has found itself in a big shit. And it is not certain the moral smear will clear up soon.
By Gbenga Osinaike