By Tabora Bojang
The West African Examinations Council Gambia office has revealed that a total of 13 cases of exam malpractice have been reported in this year’s Gambia Basic Educational Certificate Examination, GABECE.
The head of WAEC Gambia, Pa Samba Baldeh, told The Standard that all the cases have been investigated by the Gambia Examinations Committee which presented its report to the Council and a decision was taken.
“We have now taken a decision to release the results of those candidates who have not been found to be involved in examinations malpractice but the results of those candidates who have been ascertained to be involved in examinations malpractice have been cancelled,” Baldeh disclosed.
However, he did not mention how many students have been found guilty or the number of schools involved. “We have 13 cases reported and sometimes two cases can be from one school but what matters is the number of cases. All the cases have been decided and a decision was taken,” Baldeh added.
The WAEC boss was reacting to a request for clarification from The Standard after parents whose children sat exams at a particular school in the Greater Banjul Area complained that their results are still not released.
The school authorities, who denied any wrongdoing, informed The Standard that Waec briefly informed them that they suspected malpractice in their french paper and they would investigate and report back to the school.
The school said a total of 43 candidates who sat the exams are still yet to get their results.
But according to Mr Baldeh, the results were withheld because of suspected cases of examination malpractice.
He said all withheld results which passed the test of investigations will be released this week.
Asked which steps the Council took to conduct investigations and how the malpractices were detected, Baldeh said it was detected either by inspectors or examiners who would detect evidence of malpractice and report it to the Council and subsequently presented to the exams committee which will look at it and either conclude that it is malpractice or reject it for lack of evidence.
“We have dealt with these cases as provided by regulations for the examinations and we have looked at all the evidence provided and presented the report to the committee and they have taken a decision that is spelt out in the regulation,” he said.
According to unconfirmed reports, over 15 schools were involved in exam malpractices but the Waec boss said he cannot confirm the number.
