The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) has announced that individuals arrested for infractions during the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are being processed for court.
More than nine individuals have been apprehended in connection with the BECE.
In a statement released on Tuesday, WAEC noted that prior to the commencement of the examination, briefing sessions were held with District Directors of Education and Supervisors to inform them of the new rules governing the examination. “Among other things, the supervisors were informed that they were prohibited from bringing along mobile phones to the examination centres. A stern warning was issued against this practice.”
Despite these warnings, some individuals ignored the advice and were subsequently arrested by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and locally recruited WAEC agents, and handed over to the police.
At the Save Our Souls Educational Centre in Bekwai, three teachers were arrested for attempting to assist candidates. “They are Patience Serwaah, Oscar Ben Azumah, and Thomas Gyimadu. Other persons who were unrelated to the examination but came around attempting to assist the candidates are Christian Osei and Kyei Baffour Alex,” the statement added.
At the Jinijini Senior High School Centre, two invigilators were apprehended for taking snapshots of the English Language question papers and posting them on a WhatsApp platform named ‘Koraso Ma JHS.’ Additionally, at Nkoranza Senior High School, an invigilator named Abeam Danso was arrested with a mobile phone containing answers to the Religious and Moral Education questions.
Furthermore, at Chemu Senior High School in Tema, a teacher named Amoako Joseph was arrested for taking pictures of the question papers and posting them on a platform called ‘Apor Lord for BECE, 2024.’ At the Liberty Hills School centre, an invigilator named Faaweerie Patrick was arrested for taking pictures of the Science paper and was handed over to the police. At the Jachie Pramso SHS centre in the Ashanti Region, an invigilator named Danso Emmanuel was found with a phone during the examination, while another invigilator, Mensah Emmanuel, had pieces of paper containing answers to the English Language paper.
The statement also noted that at the Santoe Basic School centre, teachers from DESVY International School were found on their school bus solving the Science questions for onward transmission to their students in the examination hall. “They are Thomas Ativor, 37, a Twi language teacher, Emmanuel Ammisah, 47, a mathematics teacher, Edwin Goodluck, 39, a Science teacher, and Richard Boateng, 32, a Computing teacher.”
WAEC concluded by stating, “They have all been reported to the police and are being processed for court.”