The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it has dealt with all the loopholes that may result in leakages of exam papers as the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations begin.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Head of WAEC, Rev. Samuel Ollenu said 380, 000 students from 915 schools across the country are expected to sit the exam which begins today, April 3, 2018.

“By God’s grace, there wouldn’t be any leakages this year because we have done everything that we need to do to ensure that nothing of the sort happens.

“And we have our ears on the ground and we have not heard anything yet so we think that what we have put in place is working,” he added.

The WASSCE exam is no stranger to leakages, what the exams body itself calls fore-knowledge of questions. Papers like Physics Practical, Integrated Science, Oral English and Social Studies leaked in 2015 and 2016 leading to their cancellation.

WAEC has had to fire some of its staff and cancel the results of schools that were found culpable in these instances.

All candidates are expected to report to their exam hall 30 minutes before papers start

But Rev. Ollenu has assured that none of that will happen this year. He said stringent measures have been put in place to thwart any attempt to compromise the exam.

He, however, said the consistent challenges of leakages, especially those that occur during the transportation of materials have been blocked.

“Usually this foreknowledge issue occurs where they try to open the questions in transit but we have changed the mode of doing that, so it is not possible for them to open it in transit any longer.”

Rev Ollenu encouraged students to be confident because the questions have been set to the right standards and that they should not panic.

“They can do the exams without any difficulty,” he said, adding, “the questions are within their reach. They are all coming from the syllabus so if they have been paying attention to the syllabus and attending classes and doing their part, there is no need worrying. They can surmount this exam…so there is no need for exams fever.”

He said all the materials needed for the exam are ready and are being distributed to the exam centres as and when necessary. All papers are expected to start at 8:30 AM each morning during the exams which end in May.

All papers will be released to exam centres 45 minutes before the start of the exam and candidates who come to the exam hall after a paper starts will not be admitted, Rev Ollenu indicated.