The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), established in 1952, is a household name in five English-speaking West African countries.

The main reason is that it conducts exit examinations in the countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Gambia).

Final year secondary school students in the countries are required to sit for WAEC-organised examinations.

Also, their families will be familiar with the name and some operations of the council due to the anxiety and high level of preparations associated with the examinations.

One of the well-known examinations administered by WAEC is the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Although WAEC’s headquarters is in Accra, Ghana, it has national offices in the countries where it operates, including Nigeria, where its National Office is  located at Yaba, Lagos State.

However, over the years, WAEC has become very popular and its operations transformed significantly.

As a journalist, Mr Chinedu Ugwumba, noted, “Candidates now register for WASSCE online through the WAEC registration website. The website also provides information about the examination timetable and syllabuses.’

He argues that with all these, an average Nigerian student and their family should know much about WAEC and the examinations it conducts.

However, analysts have observed that some candidates of non-WAEC examinations, sometimes, in company of their parents or guardians go to WAEC offices in Nigeria in search of results of other examinations.

They also observe that some candidates go to WAEC websites searching for results of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

While some blame this on sheer carelessness, others attribute it to ignorance, urging more enlightenment about the operations of the bodies  for people to be familiar with their operations.

Mrs Eucharia Onodu, WAEC’s Senior Divisional Representative in charge of Test Administration in Nigeria, describes the situation as worrisome.

Onodu confirms that some candidates of UTME have visited some WAEC offices requesting for their UTME results.

She adds that candidates of examinations organised by the  National Business and Technical  Examinations Board equally visit WAEC offices for their results or to resolve issues.

The official says more public enlightenment about WAEC operations has become more important with some innovations made by the council in recent times, including introduction of Computer Based Tests (CBT).

According to her, the council is doing much to create such awareness but needs the support of the mass media to do better.

A parent, Mr Kingsley Okpara, is of the opinion that more enlightenment is needed to help candidates to cope with the CBT and other matters relating to WAEC-organised examinations.

Okpara is convinced that ignorance caused some candidates to make errors during registration and examination of WASSCE as well as examinations conducted by other bodies.

The Head of National Office of WAEC, Dr Amos Dangut, explains that WAEC introduced hybrid WASSCE in 2024 in an effort to advance, strengthen its operations and protect the integrity of its examinations.

“What we do right now is a hybrid examination in the sense that the objectives  (both the questions and answers) are fully computer-based but for the essay and practical, the questions are projected on the screen and the candidates are provided with answer booklets and are expected to write on the answer booklets.

“What we did in the first series in February was that all the papers were provided in that mode.

“For the November/December examination (for private candidates), we decided to do it in two forms – the traditional form and the hybrid form – and candidates were told to choose the mode they would want, at the point of registration.

“People have asked us how we intend to conduct this examination in the hinterlands,’’ Dangut says.

The head of national office is confident that WAEC has the capacity to handle the CBT but needed the support of the mass media for public enlightenment on the initiative.

According to him, a research conducted in 2016 shows that the studied secondary school students have the computer literacy skills sufficient for them to do WASSCE in CBT mode.

He adds that a research by WAEC in some cities shows improved performance with the CBT mode.

“The rate of malpractice dropped significantly. Last year, it was 4.16 per cent, but with CBT it dropped to 0.8 per cent.

“What we are advocating now is that schools should be equipped. If they are equipped, we would be able to conduct the examinations.

“What we are even advocating now is that, for schools which already have the facilities and are ready to take it, they should be allowed to take the examination, while those which do not have the facilities should continue with pen and paper until the infrastructure is available,’’ he urges.

He emphasises increased awareness creation by the mass media on the operations of the council to deepen knowledge of the members of the public about WAEC’s activities.

Dangut expresses the council’s commitment to improving its examinations processes with technology.

“WAEC will continue to deploy technological innovations to make its services easily accessible to all stakeholders,’’ he assures.

Analysts urge all stakeholders to take full advantage of innovations in education for development. (NANFeature)