Eduwatch urges WAEC to complete malpractice investigations before releasing results

The African Education Watch (Eduwatch) has urged the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to complete investigations into suspected examination malpractice before releasing examination results.

Executive Director of Eduwatch, Kofi Asare, said releasing results while some candidates remained under investigation could disadvantage affected students, particularly those seeking admission to tertiary institutions.

According to him, candidates whose results are withheld pending investigations are sometimes forced to wait for extended periods, with some only receiving clarity after tertiary admission processes have been completed.

Mr Asare said Eduwatch had previously recommended that WAEC conclude all malpractice investigations before publishing examination results to ensure that candidates know their status from the outset.

“We at a point suggested to the government that why won’t we finish all investigations before we release the results so that from day one, everybody knows whether they had their results canceled or their results were intact. Instead of holding some of them to ransom and then they wait, by the time the results are released, tertiary admissions are over,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged that adopting such an approach could delay the release of examination results if WAEC lacked the necessary human resources to complete investigations within a reasonable timeframe.

Mr Asare therefore called for increased capacity at WAEC to enable the Council to investigate suspected malpractice cases more efficiently without causing significant delays in the publication of examination results.