The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has reaffirmed its readiness to commence and conduct of its West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) for private candidates on a digital platform, starting with the first series of exams this February.
The organisation has also made it clear that the Computer-Based Examination (CBE) is only for private candidates for now, while it has not decided when to incorporate the May-June school-based candidates into the new exam method.
The Head of National Office WAEC Nigeria, Dr Amos Dangut, made this clarification in a statement made available by the council’s spokesperson, Mrs Moyosola Adesina, on Monday.
He said it was necessary to clarify and further enlighten prospective candidates and members of the public on the forthcoming first-series exam and the CB-WASSCE mode’s involvement.
He said WAEC attention was drawn to a recent media report credited to a youth forum calling for the rejection of the planned CBT exam for private candidates on the basis that such would also extend to school-based candidates, which he said was a falsehood and misleading.
He said there was never a time that WAEC made such an announcement as regards the latter claim.
He explained that WAEC is aware that there is still a lot to be done to equip schools with the needed infrastructure and resources and to adequately train manpower to handle the conduct of CBT exams for school candidates, who are always in large numbers.
He pointed out that the introduction of CB-WASSCE is currently exclusive to the First Series of the Private Candidates’ Examination, which, since its inception, has been conducted only in urban centres with relatively few candidates
