The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said that a total of one million, five hundred and forty nine thousand, four hundred and sixty three (1,549,463) will be sitting for this year’s examinations in Nigeria. The examination body said there are 786,421 males and 763,042 females. It also added 19,129 schools registered for the exam in the country.
Patrick Areghan, head of the Nigerian National Office of the examination body in Yaba, Lagos, made the disclosure during a press conference on Tuesday, July 07, 2020. He said the exam was initially fixed to run from April 6, to June 5, 2020. This was prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country. He said the exam will now hold between August 3 and September 5, 2020.
Unlike the previous exams that ran from Monday till Friday weekly, he said in order to beat time, the exam will hold from Monday till Saturday, making it a total of five weeks. He said WAEC consulted extensively before the date was fixed since the exam is a regional examination not only in Nigeria. He said all member countries were consulted.
He said WAEC is set to conduct the examination in Nigeria. He explained that the examination body has taken into cognizance the social and physical distancing protocol rolled out by the federal government and the NCDC, aimed at checking the pandemic in the country.
He said schools must provide wash-hand buckets with running water, soaps, hand sanitizers and thermometer hand-gun to check the temperature of all concerned. He added that all examination functionaries, including the council’s staff on distribution; supervisors; invigilators, inspectors; candidates and school officials will be required to wear face masks, wash and sanitize their hands daily and throughout the duration of the examination.
He said with the situation in the country at the moment, “many more classrooms will be used and many more supervisors and invigilators will be required to conduct the examination. This has certainly raised the supervision fee to be paid to supervisors as well as the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to staff, Supervisors and other examination officials.”
He said with the development, more money will be needed, hence he appealed to governments, multi-national companies, corporate organizations and philanthropic individuals to donate these PPE to WAEC. He said: “It is essential that all examination functionaries are well kitted to avoid the spread of the disease.”
Areghan noted that despite the situation surrounding the examinations, it will be “conducted under a very unfriendly atmosphere and conditions. I will like to use this opportunity to advise all schools and candidates to make the best use of the situation in order to turn adversity into success.
“I must not fail to warn all schools and candidates to shun any form of examination malpractice. Lack of preparedness is not an excuse to cheat. For the benefit of doubt, standards already set remain sacrosanct. Do not deceive yourself by thinking that they will be lowered due to the prevailing circumstances.”
“Schools and candidates must resist the temptation of patronizing dubious websites that claim or would claim to have examination questions at their disposal. We cannot claim not to know that they are right now strategizing on their evil machinations.
“They are fake and conscienceless destiny destroyers. Self-reliance is the sure key to success.
“The Final International Timetable has been sent to all the WAEC Zonal and Branch Offices for onward dispatch to schools and Federal and State Ministries of Education.”
