16th November, 2012
The West African Examination Council, WAEC, is set to publish the names of derecognised secondary schools found guilty of examination malpractice.
The examination body gave this hint in a communique issued at the end of the 54th meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee held at the Excellence Hotel and Conference Centre, Ogba, Lagos, yesterday.
The examinations committee of WAEC expessed concern at the incidence of malpractice in examinations and urged all state ministries of education to ensure that severe sanctions were imposed on all schools which perpetrate or condone examination malpractice.
In addition, the committee directed that any school which is warned twice as a result of examination malpractice be derecognised by the council.
Reading the communique, a member of the committee, Alhaja Fatima AbdulRahman, disclosed that after going through the chief examiners’ reports, the committe discovered that the standard of the papers compared favourably with those of previous years and that the rubrics were quite exlplicit.
Members of the committee also noted that candidates’ performance in the examination remarkably improved in English Language, Physics 1 and Mathematics 2, among several other subjects. The committee noted the weaknesses of candidates as identified in the chief examiners’ reports, to include shallow knowledge of the subject matter, incorrect interpretation of questions, poor command of the English language, lack of Mathematical/ Manipulative skills, poor handwriting and spelling mistakes.
To correct these, the committee recommended that candidates should be well groomed and prepared for subsequent examinations in all aspects of paper as listed in the examination syllabus.
The committee urged candidates to learn how to properly draw and label diagrams and expose themselves to frequent practical and laboratory works.
Teachers were also urged to explain the meaning of words and emphasize correct spelling of technical terms in their respective subjects while teaching and also with suitable teaching aids.
—Ayoyinka Babade