The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has shut down the Adventist Senior High School-Bantama examination centre in Kumasi following reports of widespread malpractice during the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The decision was announced during a monitoring tour of examination centres in the Kumasi Metropolis, led by the Mayor, to ensure the integrity of the exams.

WAEC officials explained that the move was necessary to safeguard the credibility of the national examination across the West African sub-region.

In total, 936 candidates who sat for Thursday’s English Language paper at the Adventist SHS-Bantama centre have been reassigned to write subsequent papers under strict supervision at WAEC’s office in Kumasi.

Describing the incident as “unfortunate,” Kumasi Metro Director of Education, David Oppong, said investigations will be conducted to determine what transpired.

“For now, the incident that we’ve recorded has to do with an Adventist Senior High School—allegations of examination malpractices. So we are yet to do a thorough investigation,” he said.

Mr. Oppong noted that the matter has already been reported to the regional director, urging the public to remain patient while a full probe is carried out.

“I would plead that we wait for a full investigation to be done so that we know where they went wrong. I don’t have any detailed information about it. But the allegation is that it has gone on and the students have been bussed to the WAEC centre to go and take the examination. It’s very unfortunate,” he added.

He cautioned supervisors and invigilators to remain vigilant to protect the credibility of the examinations.

“The advice that we continue to give to the invigilators and supervisors is that they have to be extra careful. We are training the young ones to take over from us as leaders. So if we continue to allow and encourage some of these things in our schools, it means that we are destroying the nation,” he warned.

Mr. Oppong further stated that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education will strictly enforce the rules governing examinations to prevent further infractions.

“As soon as some of these things come to the attention of the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education, we will not sit down for any bad thing to happen. We will ensure that the code of conduct, the rules governing the examination will be applied,” he stressed.