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Four
Basic
Education
Certificate
Examination
(BECE)
candidates
have
been
prosecuted
by
the
West
African
Examination
Council
(WAEC),
for
engaging
in
various
examination
malpractice.
The
candidates,
who
have
consequently
been
convicted,
are
part
of
19
others.
The
4
convicted
have
been
charged
between
GHC1,200
and
GHC3,000,
based
on
the
penalty
units.
Investigation
has
begun
on
13
of
the
cases
while
prosecution
is
ongoing
in
respect
of
2
cases.
Head
of
Legal
at
the
Council,
Rev.
Victor
Brew
said
this
is
part
of
efforts
to
protect
the
integrity
of
the
examinations.
“We
have
done
some
prosecutions
with
4
candidates
convicted
and
fined.
We
believe
this
should
let
the
public
know
that
we
are
very
concerned
about
the
cases
of
examination
malpractice,
and
we
will
act
on
all,”
he
warned.
Rev
Brew,
made
a
case
for
a
review
of
the
current
sanction
regime
to
deter
others.
”The
current
penalty
points
in
the
law
translates
into
a
fine
of
between
GHC1,200
to
GHC3,000,
which
is
not
deterrent
enough.
If
we
can
have
a
change
in
it
to
an
amount
that
is
hefty,
then
we
can
make
some
head
way
and
deter
others,”
he
added.
Head
of
Public
Affairs
at
WAEC,
John
Kapi
indicated
that
a
new
trend
of
examination
malpractice
emerging,
whereby
some
candidates
hide
money
and
contact
numbers
in
answer
booklets
in
a
bid
to
influence
their
exam
results.
The
contact
numbers
come
with
the
inscriptions,
call
me,
help
me,
call
my
mom,
to
appeal
to
the
examiners.
Mr
Kapi
said
“The
Council
is
recording
a
high
number
of
cases
where
candidates
write
telephone
numbers
or
the
phrase
“help
me”,
“call
me”,
“just
call
my
mom”
in
their
answer
booklets
and
add
GHC50
or
more
to
it.
A
recent
study
by
the
West
African
Examination
Council
revealed
a
worrying
trend
of
rising
examination
malpractice
in
the
country.
The
period
between
2021
and
2023,
showed
a
significant
increase
in
the
percentage
of
candidates
involved
in
examination
malpractice
from
2%
in
2021
to
10%
in
2023.
“Mr
Kapi
said
their
Staff,
Ghana
Education
Service,
and
GNAT,
personnel
from
the
Ghana
Police
Service,
National
Security,
National
Intelligence
Bureau
as
well
as
external
monitoring
agents
have
been
recruited
by
the
Council
to
monitor
the
examinations.
This
year’s
BECE
will
begin
from
Monday
July
8
and
end
on
Monday
July
15,
with
569,095
students
expected
to
sit
the
exam.
Read
also:
‘Call
me,
help
me,
call
my
mom’
and
GHC50
is
new
exam
malpractice
by
candidates
–
WAEC