…Says exam begins August 16
About one million five hundred thousand candidates are tobwrute this year’s West African School Certificate Examination,WASSCE, in the thirty six states of the country and the Federal capital territory.
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) said this at it released the international timetable for the (WASSCE) which begins August 16 and end on Friday October 8, 2021.
This was disclosed by Mr. Patrick Areghan, Head of the Nigeria, National Office of WAEC on Tuesday at a press conference held in Lagos.
He said, “In accordance with the International Timetable, the WASSCE (SC) 2021 will take place throughout the sub-region from Monday, 16th August to Friday, 8th October, 2021. However, the examination will end in Nigeria on 30th September, 2021 – spanning a period of seven (07) weeks”.
According to him, The statistics for the examination shows that 19,425 recognized secondary schools, comprising 8.052 public and 11,373 private schools, spread across the nooks and crannies of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja would be presenting a total of 1,573,789 candidates, comprising 792,620 males (50.36%) and 781,169 females (49.64%), for the examination.
Areghan stressed that candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers, saying about 25,000 senior teachers would be participating in the examination as supervisors.
The HNO further explained that Covid-19 caused disruption and distortion of the academic calendar in the West African Sub-region, adding that the final International timetable was therefore, drawn in such a way as to cater for the interests of all the five-member countries.
” The Timetable was specifically drawn to align with Nigeria’s emergency academic calendar and also in deference to the specific request made by the Federal Ministry of Education.
” These two factors formed the basis of our input into the drafting and finalization of the International Timetable by WAEC Headquarters, Accra, Ghana.
” Once again, the examination is going to be conducted under a rather hostile environment, in view of the resurgent COVID-19 Pandemic (Third wave) and the un-abating security challenges in some parts of the country”, he said.
Areghan said Council would religiously adhere to all the prescribed COVID-19 protocols.
On the issue of security/insecurity, HNO said the Council is liaising with the relevant security agencies as this is purely within their purview. “Moreover, we are trusting God, as usual, for His divine intervention”, he added.
He warned all rogue-website operators to desist from their nefarious acts, asking them to be patriotic citizens and stop giving WAEC a bad name.
“It is only lazy schools and candidates that resort to examinations malpractice. Any one caught conniving with rogue-website operators or patronizing them will be seriously dealt with. Security agencies are closely monitoring them and their activities.
“Schools and candidates should not allow themselves to be deceived by these fake people and destiny destroyers. Good preparation and self-reliance are the sure keys to success”, said Areghan.
“We are also closely watching out for the so-called ‘Special’ or ‘Miracle’ centres. These are not coinages by WAEC. They exist only in the imaginations of the perpetrators and patronizers. Even though we cannot claim to be oblivious of such a scenario, they are centres where candidates are promised assistance for cheap grades by ‘examination contractors’.
“We will definitely not allow them. No matter how remotely located they are, our in-built anti-malpractice mechanism will fish them out. It will not be wise to spend a whole six years preparing for the examination, only to end up not getting any result. So please, be warned, said HNO.
The Final International Timetable has been sent to all schools through our Branch and Zonal Offices for their proper guidance.
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