Candidates are writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) late into the night as a result of some centres being hampered by delays disrupting the ongoing examination.
It was gathered that the examination is being conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
The development has caused concern among parents, school administrators and education stakeholders especially when similar incidents were recorded last year when some candidates reportedly wrote examinations close to midnight.
Vanguard reports that checks across some centres in Lagos especially on Lagos Island and the Lekki axis revealed that the delays became more visible this week.
Physics Papers 2 and 1 which were to be held between 2 pm and 5 pm on Monday, reportedly did not start on time.
Some candidates were said to have written the second paper at about 8pm. On Candidates who sat for General Mathematics also experienced major delays on Wednesday.
It was said that the essay paper which was set from 9:30 am to noon and the objective paper which was set from 3 pm to 4:30 pm were completed around 10 pm.
‘Delays Psychologically Affect Candidates’
A school principal, who spoke anonymously to Vanguard, said he was disappointed over the recurring disruptions.
“Why are we going through this again after what happened last year? Apart from the security problems in the country, these delays have a psychological effect on the candidates. Imagine you are preparing for an examination scheduled for noon and you eventually write it at 7 p.m. or later,” the principal said.
He said many stakeholders expected WAEC to have addressed the problem after last year’s experience.
A parent in Lekki said the delays were impacting on students’ welfare and raising concerns on examination management.
“My daughter got home around 10 p.m. Wednesday. We thought lessons would have been learned from last year’s experience but the same issues are happening again,” the parent said.
WAEC Official Confirms Problems
A WAEC official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the council was aware of the challenges.
“Yeah, we know of some hitches that have come up unexpectedly. ‘We are doing everything we can to solve the problems, and hopefully things will be back to normal in no time,’ the official said.
As at the time of filing this report, WAEC had not yet issued an official public statement on the delays.
