A TIGHT BALANCE FOR WAEC (SEPT 15, 2009)

THE publication of the pictures of students alleged to have engaged in examination malpractices has incurred the displeasure of some children’s rights groups, notably the Child Rights International (CRI) and another group calling itself the Concerned Citizens, which have condemned the publication as constituting a violation of the rights of the students.
It is the contention of the CRI that the publication, caused by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), would not augur well for the development and future of the affected students.
Indeed, the Children’s Act, 1998 (ACT 560) states in Section 2, Subsection 2 that “the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration by any court, person, institution or other body in any matter concerned with a child.”
Additionally, the 1992 Constitution, the highest law of the land, recognising the protection of children as paramount and non-negotiable, states in Article 28, Clause 1 (d) that “children and young persons receive special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.”
Without any ambiguity, the Constitution, in Article 28 clause 5 states that “For the purposes of this article, “child” means a person below the age of 18.”
The express wishes of the Constitution to give maximum protection to the child vis-à-vis the need for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to protect the integrity of its examinations is what calls for the debate on whether or not it is appropriate to publish the names and pictures of the children involved in examination malpractice.
The first difficulty in the debate is the determination of the ages of affected students. The students were candidates of the November/December 2008 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations.
It is reasonable to assume that almost all the students whose pictures and names appeared in the publication completed what used to be known and called senior secondary school.
We are unable to establish whether the affected students are above or below the prescribed age for protection.
However, if the normal educational practice of admitting six-year-olds to Primary One and the fact that November-December senior high school examination is meant for private candidates, including mostly senior high school leavers, then after 12 years of schooling from the basic to the second cycle level, those involved in the examination malpractice are at least 18 years of age, meaning they are no longer children.
On the other hand, the WAEC Law (Act 719) did not make provision for age. This emphasises the importance of protecting the integrity of the examinations and certificates of WAEC.
We do not condone examination malpractices and, therefore, think the malpractices should be punished in ways that can deter other students.
We think the resort to publishing the pictures is to further raise the bar of deterrence to protect the integrity of the council’s examinations and certificates. After all pictures have been introduced to validate its certificates.
We hope a decent balance is struck between the rights of children and the need to preserve the integrity of an important institution like WAEC from recalcitrant students and potential future leaders, whose desire for short-cuts could pose a danger to the future of the country they aspire to lead.