WAEC 2025: Night vision
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There’s no reason exams should be held after dusk.
Examination misconduct poses the greatest threat to Nigeria’s education system, particularly at the secondary level. The hunt for a solution is ongoing, although it is unclear which strategy will be most effective.
Candidates taking the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), which are administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), recently sat Parts II and III (Objectives and Theory) of the English Language paper late into the night in states such as Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Benue, and Taraba, among others.
The power, on May 28, lasted till about 9 p.m. in most places and close to midnight in Taraba State, in particular. The candidates had taken Part I (Oral English) in the morning and were waiting to sit the remainder in the early afternoon, only to encounter a delay by which the question paper did not arrive at most centers until evening. The examination was held at between 7p.m. and 9p.m. in many places, while in others like Taraba, centers did not receive the paper until after 9p.m., forcing candidates to sit the exam till midnight. The psychological and physical stress on candidates and the consequent effect on their performance are only to be imagined.
The delay, it has subsequently been disclosed, was caused by a question paper leak, forcing WAEC to make a last-minute switch to an alternative set of questions produced late by the examination board. This naturally resulted in bottlenecks in logistical operations for delivering the question paper to examination centers.
WAEC claimed in an official statement that the delay was due to attempts to protect the exam’s integrity, which “impacted the timeliness and seamless conduct” of the paper. According to reports, the original material was leaked to the public four days before the exam and openly pawned on social media.
Nothing demonstrated the audacity and impunity involved in test dishonesty more than the reported story of a school vice-principal in Ondo State who was severely attacked by thugs for daring to stop a student from cheating in the ongoing WASSCE. Mr. Rotifa, the vice-principal, was battered to near unconsciousness on Friday by thugs believed to be acting on the orders of the parents of a Senior Secondary 3 student at Complete Child Development College, Awule in Akure, who had violated school rules by bringing an android phone into the exam hall, causing the vice-principal to confiscate the phone.
According to reports, the student denounced Rotifa’s actions to his parents, after which the mother allegedly stormed the school, threatening harsh retaliation against those who impeded her son.
The Ondo State Government provided a description of its early investigation, stating that while the phone was returned following the mother’s objections, the pupil’s brother, who is also a school alumnus, later came in to harass and threaten the vice-principal. When school officials saw thugs hanging around the school, they recommended the vice-principal to contact the police, “whereupon two officers escorted him in their van to locate the suspects, but they were unsuccessful,” the statement stated.
“When they returned, the suspects stopped the police van, forcibly removed Mr. Rotifa, and assaulted him.”He was hospitalized but has since been released; however, he has not gone home for fear of additional violence,” it said.
The state police command verified the occurrence early last week and announced the arrest of the pupil’s mother and four other suspects, who would be charged in court once the inquiry was completed.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa says the government believes the solution to examination malpractice is to fully implement computer-based testing (CBT) in all WAEC and National Examinations Council (NECO) exams, as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) does. He directed that the two examination organizations begin conducting objective examinations in CBT style this year and fully transition to CBT for all other papers, including essays and practicals, by May/June 2026.
The minister originally declared the policy in April while JAMB was supervising this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and he repeated it during his inspection of WAEC’s CBT examinations in Abuja two weeks ago. “By their 2026 exams, which will be administered in May/June, both the goals and the essays will be entirely computer-based. That is how we can eradicate exam malpractice,” he stated, among other things.
Most parties agree that CBT has the ability to reduce misconduct and address logistical issues associated with conducting hard-copy tests. However, many people question if this country is prepared for rapid implementation, and that is where we stand.
Infrastructure requirements include sufficient access to computer terminals, reliable power, and internet connectivity. The infrastructure’s durability must also be considered because, unlike JAMB, which conducts its UTME in a few days, school certificate examinations take roughly two months at a time. There is also the question of digital literacy for all prospective candidates, which would ensure that no region of the country is disadvantaged, whether urban or rural, north or south. Furthermore, efforts must be made to preserve the rigour of examinations, which may be lost due to computer-based assessment. In short, let us make haste slowly.
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