The West African Examination Council (WAEC), on Tuesday, released guidelines for the conduct of the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, had on Monday at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja announced that the 2020 WASSCE would hold between August 4 and September 5, 2020.
The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan, appealed to state governments and corporate organisations for funds to provide personal protective equipment for officials who would conduct the examination.
He 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 metres apart. This means that many more classrooms will be used and many more supervisors and invigilators will be required to conduct the examinations.
“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.”
Areghan added that the final international timetable had been sent to all the WAEC zonal and branch offices for onward dispatch to schools, federal and state ministries of education.
