Many Blind Candidates Also Cheat, WAEC Alleges

WAEC-AND-NECO-300x161

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has alleged that many blind candidates that sit for the examinations also cheat, saying they perfect their crafts by colluding with each other.

The Head of Test Administration of WAEC in Nigeria, Mrs Frances Iweha-Onukwu, made the revelation in an interview with reportersĀ in Lagos on Wednesday.

Iweha-Onukwu said the reason could be that the candidates were usually not well equipped individually for the examinations.

She added that this had been responsible for what she described as ā€˜not too wonderful performanceā€™ among the blinds.

ā€œWe have discovered that there is usually high incidence of collusion among blind candidates during examinations.

ā€œThat is why their performance has not really been anything wonderful.

ā€œOur society is such that there have not been adequate and conscious efforts to take care of the challenged.

ā€œThere have not been enough trained personnel to guide blind candidates before being exposed to major external examinationā€™ā€™, she said.

She lamented a situation where just one teacher who studied Special Education in higher institution is employed to cater for the needs of physically challenged persons of various dimensions. She said the situation must be reviewed.

ā€œI cannot explain how one teacher, who studied special education can be given the singular task of meeting the academic needs of the deaf, dumb, the blind and all others.

ā€œMeanwhile, there are candidates who need personalised attention on one-on-one basis.

ā€œIf we intend to give the best and all-inclusive education, Federal Government must employ more trained teachers in special education to take care of the different defects among the physically challenged students.

ā€œThere must also be consciousness in policy formulation that will take care of these persons.

ā€œThis is because there is ability in disability. These persons can do better if adequate care is givenā€™ā€™, Iweha-Onukwu added.

1 COMMENT

  1. Who is to blame? Government should be ready to accept the rot in our education sector. Why on earth should deaf candidates be even make to write Oral -in -English by the examinations body? Majority of these deaf candidates could neither hear nor pronounce most of these words yet WAEC,NECO and JAMB will force them to take examination in Oral-in-English. Sign Language is different from English Language. In Sign Language word like ‘during and while’ has d same sign but different in meaning. Words like ‘taught and thought’ have the same pronunciation but different in meaning while they are sign differently in Sign Language. A deaf candidates taking such an examination who is likely to sign it will fail such an examination. These among others contributes to low performance of Deaf people in English Language. It will be appreciated if WAEC NECO &JAMB should exclude the Deaf from taking Oral-in-English in external examination