In its renewed onslaught on examination malpractice, the West African Examination Council (W AEC) has introduced two new measures to guide the conduct of its examinations.

Rising from its 50'" Annual Council meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, recently, the council noted with great concern the increasing wave of examination malpractices and identified collusion as the most prevailing type of malpractice candidates engage in.

The regulations which will take effect from next year will apply to the May/June and November West African Senior School Certificate Examination (W ASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BEEC).

A statement from the Public Affairs Department, WAEC Headquarters in Accra, Ghana, stated that, "The regulations provide for sanctioning of candidates who contravene instructions by writing with pencil instead of ink or shading in ink instead of pencil and candidates who fail to complete the cover page of the answer booklet as specified in the instructions."
At the week-long meeting which was attended by delegates from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra-Leone, the council vowed to get all stakeholders on board to ensure that the war against examination malpractice is won.

The meeting which was declared open by the Secretary of State for Basic and Secondary Education of The Gambia, Madam Fatou Lamin Faye discussed a wide range of issues including the council's finances, administrative and staff matters and deliberated on Registrar's Report for the year 2007. It also reviewed examinations conducted by the council during the year.

The council noted with satisfaction the giant strides being made in the deployment of ICT to enhance the efficiency of the council's operations especially in the areas of electronic registration of candidates for the WASSCE in Nigeria and Ghana, electronic registration of candidates for the BEEC in Ghana as well as electronic checking and verification of candidate's results in Nigeria.
Also at the meeting, a revised French syllabus for WASSCE which will be forwarded to schools with a three year notice of examination was approved.

The examination body also presented excellence awards to the three best candidates in the May/June 2006 WASSCE as well as the Bandele Oyediran Award for the best candidate in West Africa which went to overall best candidate Miss Oluwabusola Majekodunmi.

In addition to the awards for excellent performance, the council also gave the Distinguished Friend of Council Award to five personalities in West Africa for their outstanding contributions towards their achievement of the council's objectives. They are; Professor B. C F Lokko from Ghana, Dr Usman B. Ahmed from Nigeria and Alhaji Alieu S. Deen from Sierra Leone.