The West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) has stated that examinations malpractice remains the most notorious challenge facing the body.
Iyi Uwadiae, WAEC Registrar said this at a news briefing on Tuesday.
“Currently, the malaise has assumed dangerous and criminal dimensions on the heels of advancement in technology which created the smartphones, the social media and others”, he said.
Uwadiae lamented that exam malpractice had persisted through encouragement by misguided parents, guardians, rogue websites and school owners using sophisticated methods of cheating.
“For instance, in the May/June 1993 WASSCE in Nigeria, the results of only 58,494 candidates were withheld because of examination malpractice.
“But by 2017 WASSCE for school certificates, the number of candidates results similarly witheld had shot up to 214,952,” he said.
The Registrar, however, disclosed that the Council in the five member countries had adopted measures and deployed technology to curb the menace.
