Candidates are writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) late into the night as a result of delays in some centres disrupting the ongoing examination.
It was gathered that the examination is being conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
The development has raised concern among parents, school administrators and education stakeholders especially as similar incidents were recorded last year when some candidates reportedly wrote examinations close to midnight.
Checks by Vanguard across some centres in Lagos especially on Lagos Island and the Lekki axis revealed that the delays became more visible this week, according to Vanguard.
Physics Papers 2 and 1 on Monday between 2 pm and 5 pm are said not to have started on time.
Some candidates were reported to have written the second paper at about 8 p.m. On General Mathematics students also faced major delays on Wednesday.
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 said to have been completed around 10 pm.
‘Delays Have Psychological Effects on Candidates’
A school principal, who spoke to Vanguard anonymously, said he was disappointed over the recurring disruptions.
“Why are we doing this again after last year? Besides the security issues in the country, these delays psychologically affect candidates. Imagine you are preparing for an examination slated for noon and you eventually write it at 7 p.m. or later,” the principal said.
He said many stakeholders had expected WAEC to have fixed the problem after last year’s experience.
A parent in Lekki said the delays were affecting the welfare of the students and raising concerns about examination management.
“My child got home about 10 p.m. on Wednesday. We thought lessons would have been learned from last year’s experience but the same issues are happening again,” said the parent.
WAEC Official Confirms Problems
A WAEC official who was not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed the council was aware of the challenges.
“Yeah, we’re aware of a few hiccups that have come up unexpectedly. ‘We are doing everything we can to solve the problems, and hopefully things will be back to normal soon,’ the official said.
As at the time of filing this report, WAEC was yet to issue an official public statement on the delays.
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