The Nigeria National Office of the body has assured the public that it would further reduce the period for the processing of results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
This is as the regional examination body, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) marks platinum jubilee.
The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Mr. Patrick Areghan expressed the commitment at the pre-conference press briefing for the 70th annual council meeting in Abuja in March.
Areghan hinted that with the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the organization has reduced the period for the processing of WASSCE results of WASSCE for school candidates from an average of 84 days in the past to an average of 45 days.
According to him, “Most aspects of WAEC’s operations and activities have been computerized. Its transactions and interactions with stakeholders across the globe are internet-driven.
“The Council has, therefore, continued to upgrade and install modern equipment and state-of-the-art facilities in line with global trends. It also seeks to satisfy the expectations of its stakeholders through efficient service delivery.
“Over the years, the Nigeria National Office of the Council has consistently maintained very active and informative websites, in addition to other Information Communication Technology (ICT) installations, towards the accomplishment of the Council’s goals,” he said.
The West African Examinations Council WAEC, has expressed dissatisfaction at the rate at which some schools still frustrate their efforts to end examination malpractices in Nigeria.
Speaking during a questions and answers session, expressed unhappiness that some schools predominantly, the private sector still fail to support WAEC in addressing the problem of examination malpractices in the conduct of its test and aided students and their accomplice to abet examination misconducts.
Areghan, however, expressed regrets that several private school owners still charge candidates outside the official fee announced by the Council in a bid to circumvent examination procedures and rules to assist candidates to cheat in various ways during the examination.
Besides, he identified non-compliance to the deadline for candidates’ registration by Principals of schools, saying such was not in the interest of the examination body’s preparations towards the conduct of the examination.
He , therefore, appealed to school authorities to do all that is required of them to avoid the late rush of candidates’ registration and unnecessary extension for the May/June WAEC examination.
Speaking on the platinum jubilee programmes, Areghan explained that the Annual Council Meeting of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) rotated amongst the five-member countries is used to deliberate on providing qualitative and reliable educational assessment, encouraging academic and moral excellence, promoting sustainable human resource development and promoting international cooperation among the five member countries.
He attributed the successes recorded by the Council on the support it garners from the governments of the five-member countries, most especially the Nigeria National Office that flaunts its scorecard in the comity of Educational Assessment Institutions.
“WAEC owes a lot of gratitude to the governments and good people of its member nations. I, therefore, wish to use the opportunity provided by this occasion to express appreciation to all stakeholders in the education sector, for the huge amounts of funding, human and material resources, which have gone into the Council’s operations and activities in the past 70 years.”
He appealed for greater cooperation, support, encouragement and goodwill from all stakeholders to give the Council assurances of further successes, achievements and continued existence in the years ahead.
