The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it has filed an official complaint with police after one of its monitoring officials was severely attacked at the Santa Maria Senior High School in Accra.

It is unclear why the men staged the attacks but WAEC says the officer’s mobile phone and spectacles were damaged in the process.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, stressed that the Council is committed to ensuring the conduct of credible examinations at all levels, despite the challenges it faces.

“We have a number of agents who are monitoring the examination and one of the Council’s commissioned monitoring agents was assaulted by a gang of five persons on Monday, 12th September, 2022 at Santa Maria after monitoring examination at Santa Maria Senior High School.

“He was severely beaten and had his mobile phone and spectacles damaged. Report of the incident was made at the Anyaa Police Station and investigations are ongoing,” she said.

WAEC has, meanwhile, issued caution letters to 34 schools across the country following tip-offs of schemes by schools to help their candidates cheat in the examination.

Suspected impersonation

The examination body has so far reported 23 suspected cases of impersonation in the ongoing West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to the Police.

Describing the development as worrying, the Council noted that such cases have been on the increase in this year’s examination because school authorities fail to identify those ‘unwanted’ individuals in the exam halls.

As of Friday, September 16, a total of six schools were reported to have recorded cases of impersonation.

Prince Boateng SHS in Nsawam recorded 15 cases, Vicar Trust SHS, Kasoa – three and St. John SHS, Asante Bekwai, two cases.

Winners SHS, Nkawkaw; Sunyani Business College and Mococo SHS, Nkawkaw all recorded a case each.

Agnes Teye-Cudjoe urged school authorities to “fish out any impersonators even before they are allowed into the examination room.”

She added that there is a number of syndicate cheating cases in schools where teachers extort money from candidates and provide answers to them in the examination halls.