News reaching us suggests that the Plateau state Government on Friday has said it would reduce the number of external examination centres in private secondary schools as part of effort to check examination malpractices. Making this known, the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Nanle Dashen, while receiving officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), said ‘We are going to trim down the number of external examination centres in private schools to curtail cheating during examinations. ‘The proliferation of private secondary schools has been one of the sources of examination cheating and we will control that. ‘The examination council must assist the ministry in controlling the registration of students during the Senior Secondary examinations,” Dashen said. He further argued that the ”over registrations” of candidates for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) had been one of the major sources of examination malpractice.

News reaching us suggests that the Plateau state Government on Friday has moved to reduce the number of external examination centres in private secondary schools as part of effort to check examination malpractices. Making this known, the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Nanle Dashen, while receiving officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), said ‘We are going to trim down the number of external examination centres in private schools to curtail cheating during examinations. ‘The proliferation of private secondary schools has been one of the sources of examination cheating and we will control that. ‘The examination council must assist the ministry in controlling the registration of students during the Senior Secondary examinations,” Dashen said. He further argued that the ”over registrations” of candidates for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) had been one of the major sources of examination malpractice.

He contended that the ministry and WAEC would devise strategies to permanently wipe out the menace of examination malpractice. ‘We will not allow cheating to continue as it has the capacity of destroying the educational sector. ‘The menace of examination malpractice has become a national disaster  and stakeholders must address this’. He said the ministry would forward the signatures of two directors mandated to give approval for the registration of examination centres to the council.

Speaking, the Coordinator of the council, North-Central zone, Henry Osundeyinde, expressed concern over the mass failure of secondary school students in the state. He said, ‘the poor performance and the high level of examination malpractice is a serious source of concern to us in WAEC. ‘We need the support and assistance of the ministry to check the trend,” he said. In closing, he appealled to parents and guardians to inculcate principles of equity and dignity into their wards/children to curtain this misdemeanor.

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WAEC/SSCE: Plateau reduces examination centres to curtail examination malpractice