The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has expressed deep concern over coordinated cheating schemes, some reportedly involving entire schools in premeditated examination malpractice, saying the menace is becoming a national security threat.
The council said such unethical acts, often facilitated by students, school authorities, and even trusted stakeholders, posed a serious threat to the credibility and integrity of the examination process.
Among those with critical roles, he cited the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), school supervisors and teacher unions, who he said, must lead with integrity, and model ethical behaviour.
The media, he added, must continue to highlight the consequences of malpractice and hold institutions accountable.
“The media must not only report the scandals but help shape a national culture of integrity,” he urged.
He also urged religious leaders and the traditional authorities to use their platforms to promote honesty among young people.
“If we want students to reject cheating, they must hear it from every voice of moral authority,” he said.
Resource mobilisation
On resource mobilisation for WAEC, Mr Dodoo called on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education to strengthen oversight, ensure timely funding for WAEC operations and support the implementation of stricter penalties for offenders.
He also appealed to the security agencies and the judiciary to take examination fraud seriously and pursue those who facilitate or profit from it.
“This is organised crime,” he stated bluntly. “It involves networks, coercion and corruption. It must be investigated and prosecuted accordingly.”
To counter the growing menace, he outlined a multi-pronged mitigation strategy, including strengthening regulatory frameworks with harsher sanctions; promoting ethical education in early schooling, leveraging technology, such as biometric verification and item randomisation, rewarding whistleblowers who report malpractice, and accrediting NGOs to help monitor examination centres.
“Our goal is to restore public confidence in examinations and ensure that every certificate issued in this country is backed by merit, not manipulation,” he stated.
The Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, revealed alarming tactics used by cheating syndicates, including answer projection, mobile device smuggling, impersonation, and even individuals hiding in ceilings during examinations.
These, he said, were not random acts but increasingly coordinated, with collaborators using money, external materials and syndicates to undermine the system.
Deepening crisis
The Central Regional Director of Education, Emmanuel Essuman, who chaired the meeting, said there was a deepening crisis of examination malpractice in the region, warning that the integrity of the country’s education system was at risk if urgent and collective action was not taken.
He described the current wave of examination-related misconduct as “a systemic issue involving multiple actors,” including some parents, teachers, invigilators, and even members of the security services.
Mr Essuman called for a shared commitment to safeguarding the integrity of examinations in the region.
“WASSCE and BECE are not just academic events; they are life-defining moments for our students,” he said.
Drawing from his own monitoring experiences across districts, Mr Essuman detailed how some parents and community members actively paid for leaked questions, commonly referred to as ‘apo’, from unscrupulous sources in a desperate bid to secure good grades for their children.
“Driven by anxiety over their children’s performance, some parents are resorting to unethical methods. In some cases, community members even set up illegal ‘adopt centres’ in remote areas, including cocoa forest zones, where organised cheating is facilitated,” he disclosed.
He said individuals had been seen fleeing into the bush upon the arrival of monitoring teams.
In other instances, students have been caught smuggling unauthorised materials into examination halls, aided by supervisors and invigilators, who had allegedly pre-arranged financial deals with school heads.
