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Following Federal Government’s announcement of the date for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Tuesday announced guidelines for the conduct of the examination amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
A statement by the Head,Public Affairs, Damian of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Damian Ojijeogu, quoted the Head of the Nigeria National Office, Patrick Areghan, as saying the examination would hold for five weeks.
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 (PPE) 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 Governments for personal protective equipment for WAEC personnel ahead of the examination which starts first week in August.
Areghan also warned schools and candidates to shun any form of examination malpractice.
On the timetable for the examination, he said: “The Final International Timetable has been sent to all the WAEC Zonal and Branch Offices for onward dispatch to schools, Federal and State Ministries of Education.”
He further stated that the timetable is undergoing conversion from the West African time to Nigerian time.
The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, had on Monday said that school facilities would be made available for revision classes ahead of the examination.