WAEC Blames Exam Malpractices on Dubious Private School Owners

Authorities of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) have accused some private school owners in the country of trafficking students illegally from one state to another for the purpose of writing the examination.
The council’s Registrar, Mr. Iyi Uwadiae, who made the accusation at the formal inauguration of WAEC Office Complex in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, lamented that the attitudes of private school owners have caused the noticeable loopholes in the conduct of examination by the council.
While calling on state governments to partner the council in the fight against examination malpractices, Uwadiae pointed out that the little cooperation the council has been receiving from some states had helped WAEC in abating the menace of examination malpractices in the country.
He hinted that the council has been able to sanitise the conduct of examinations in every nook and cranny of Nigeria, owing to its tenacious efforts that external candidates should be abolished.
The council however, praised the Ekiti State Government for complying with the WAEC’s order that registration of external students should be stopped.
He described Ekiti a front-liner among the States that had fought relentlessly to get rid of examination malpractices, saying the State had indeed displayed that it has zero-tolerance to the menace.

“Examination malpractice is a scourge this Council must fight at all costs. In doing this, all the stakeholders must join us because we cannot do it alone.
“Some private school owners used to recruit examinees from neighbouring states to write WAEC. We have been able to fight this because this form part of the ways through which our examinations are being compromised,” he said.
Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Bimpe Aderiye, said the mass failure being recorded annually in external examinations, was as a result of the dwindling fortunes of education in the country.
Fayemi commended the ‘war against examination malpractices in Ekiti State’, describing the measure as a good step in the right direction.

He said the state government had successfully wiped out ‘miracle centres’ in private and public schools, even as he hinted that about 100 schools had been renovated to boost learning.