Following the announcement of the date for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, the West African Examination Council on Tuesday announced guidelines for the conduct of the examination amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This was contained in a statement by the Head, WAEC Public Affairs, Damian Ojijeogu.
The statement quoted the Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Patrick Areghan, as saying the examination would hold for five weeks.
It had earlier been reported that the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, said on Monday that school facilities would be made available for revision classes ahead of the examination.
Areghan, who spoke at a press briefing in Lagos State on Tuesday, said, “In conducting the examination, we have taken due cognisance of the various measures/protocols rolled out by the Federal and State governments of Nigeria, aimed at checking the spread of the pandemic.
“Schools must provide wash-hand buckets with running water, soaps, hand sanitizers and thermometer hand-gun to check the temperature of all concerned.
“All examination functionaries, including the Council’s staff on distribution; Supervisors; Invigilators, Inspectors; candidates and school officials will be required to wear face masks, wash and sanitize their hands daily and throughout the duration of the examination.
“Let me assure you and the general public that we shall adhere strictly to social/physical distancing in the examination halls by making sure that candidates sit two (2) metres apart. This means that many more classrooms will be used and many more supervisors and invigilators will be required to conduct the examination.
“This has certainly raised the supervision fee to be paid to supervisors as well as the provision of Personal Protective Equipment to staff, Supervisors and other examination officials. No doubt, all these measures have financial implications which were not contemplated at the time of drawing up the budget for the conduct of the examination.”
He, therefore, appealed to federal and state authorities for personal protective equipment for WAEC personnel ahead of the examination which starts first week in August.
He also warned schools and candidates to shun any form of examination malpractice.
On the timetable for the examination, Areghan said, “The Final International Timetable has been sent to all the WAEC Zonal and Branch Offices for onward dispatch to schools and Federal and State Ministries of Education.”
(PUNCH)
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