The Minister of Interior, Mark Woyongo, has told Citi News that anyone who will be found culpable for the latest examination paper leakage at the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) will face the full rigors of the law.
His comments are coming just a day after the Ministry of Education asked the Bureau of National Investigations to probe the circumstances surrounding WAEC’s cancellation of five papers in the Basic Education Certification Examination that leaked this week.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Rg4Z9lPXWJHT2BE6IMjl5R8UnGO5HPGV”]The decision to cancel the affected papers has provoked outrage, with a parent of one of the candidates threatening to sue WAEC over the matter.
Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Woyongo urged calm but said those responsible for the leakage will be found and dealt with.
“Obviously we need to unravel the whole truth and definitely those who are found culpable will definitely be punished by WAEC,” said the Minister.
Mr. Woyongo further pointed out that the Ministry of Education will liaise with the Bureau of National Investigations and give them the parameters for conducting their investigations.
He observed that the development presents a major task for the WAEC, , the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Education.
“…We need to examine the whole thing critically and ensure that papers do not leak. We must make sure that security is tightened at the WAEC to ensure that people go and write the exams based on what they know and not based on leakages and that will give credibility to our results.”
Many parents and students have expressed their displeasure with WAEC ‘s decision to cancel some papers.
A parent who was outraged by the decision has threatened to sue WAEC if it fails to rescind its decision.
Speaking on the development, the Minister sympathised with BECE students across country and also called on WAEC to tighten security to forestall future occurrences.
“I sympathise with them because they have cancelled the results it means they have to go back to their classrooms , it means they have to revise their notes again but I think WAEC has to tighten security and ensure that there are no leakages in the future.”
Meanwhile, Minority Spokesperson on Education, Prof Dominic Fobih, has backed WAEC’s decision to cancel the affected examination papers but says he will not be in a hurry to support calls for the top management of the regional academic examination body in Ghana to resign.
“I am very cautious person and I will not jump into such hasty conclusion and sack the head . That’s why I am saying that if BNI has come in, it is welcome but we must use that body to rather find out whatever is wrong. If in the course of investigation it becomes absolutely necessary to allow the head to step aside to allow for free flow of information, that will be fine…,”he intimated.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah