The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says six teachers and invigilators have been arrested for engaging in various examination malpractices in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Speaking to JoyNews, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kappi, said the teachers were arrested along with an 'overwhelming' number of students from both public and private schools across the country during the first week of the WASSCE.

“In terms of teachers, I can say so far, we have about six of them who have been picked up for various offences. 

“The candidates are a lot of them. It is not easy to give the number right now. We are still putting together the figures, and as and when we are able to compile the list, we will be able to put out the figure.”

The six arrested teachers were caught allegedly writing answers for candidates and committing other infractions.

“We have picked up in some of the areas where we were told that they wanted to collect money, and then assist the candidates. We have realised that there has been a lot of... We set our monitors around -  there were actually widespread examination malpractices. 

“They were able to pick up a number of them. In fact, it's overwhelming. We have looked at the numbers, and basically, it's about them having foreign material on them and then, in some cases, there's a report about them writing on the board for the candidates to copy,” he said.

Mr Kappi assured that all those involved would be punished according to the rules governing the examination.

Meanwhile, three candidates of Serwaa Nyarko SHS in the Ashanti region have failed to participate in the ongoing WASSCE.

According to the Assistant Headmaster, Rev. Richard Benson, attempts by the school to reach two of the candidates have not been successful.

Seven hundred and ninety-two candidates registered for this year's WASSCE at Serwaa Nyarko Senior High School.

In an interview with JoyNews, Rev Benson said "Out of the 792, three are absent. One of the absentees has travelled outside the country, but for two, we do not know why.

"So currently we have 789 students sitting," he said.

He also noted that no examination malpractice has been recorded at the school.

"We realised that the students move out frequently during the paper (ostensibly to urinate), so we had to restrict them," he said.