By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Nigerian office of a West African examination body has sanctioned and withdrawn the operational licences of about 574 schools found guilty of engaging in examination malpractices.
“This year, we have shared a total of 574 schools whose recognition has been withdrawn. This measure will also be adopted by all examining bodies,” the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) said.
Dr Amos Dangut, who heads the Nigerian office of the Council, said in an address to journalists on Thursday that the examination body has submitted the list of affected schools to the country’s education ministry.
The sanction implies that the schools involved in malpractices will no longer be recognised as WAEC examination centres.
“These schools are no longer recognised as examination centres by WAEC, and we will not conduct exams there,” Dr Dangut stated.
Ahead of the nationwide 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), scheduled from Thursday, 24 April to Friday, 20 June 2025, Dr Dangut revealed that 1,973,253 candidates from 23,554 schools have registered for the examination.
This is an increase of 158,627 candidates compared to last year. The candidates comprise 979,228 males and 994,025 females.
The Council says it will leverage technology by introducing the first-ever Computer-Based WASSCE (CB-WASSCE) for school candidates, adding that no two candidates will receive identical questions, to discourage malpractices.
