Richard Elesho

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has lamented that the prevailing health situation in the country has made the cost of conducting this year’s examination three times higher than the estimated cost and asked for support from government’s, groups and well meaning individuals on the matter.

According to the regional examination body it is mandatory for all 1,549,463 candidates sitting for this year’s school based examination to wear face masks and observe all protocols related to the Coronavirus pandemic. The examination will commence August 3rd.

Out of the 1,549,463 candidates registered for the exam 786, 420 are male and 763, 042 female from a total of 19, 129 schools nationwide. The Head of National Office of the organisation in Nigeria, Mr Patrick Areghan, made the disclosure at a news conference held at WAEC headquarters in Yaba, Lagos on Tuesday.

He said the period of the exam which would end on Saturday, September 3, with each candidate having an option of writing a maximum of nine out of a total 76 available subjects is a delicate one as COVID-19 pandemic is still raging.

“So, we must all protect ourselves and people around us to curb the spread of the virus in the country,” he stressed. “And that is why the conduct of the exam must follow all the government’s guidelines and protocols including social\physical distancing and the wearing of face masks by all the candidates and every other person that would be at the exam venues.

“All schools are also expected to provide thermometer hand-gun, wash- hand buckets with running water, soaps, sanitisers and so forth for use at the exam venues.

Areghan lamented what he called the huge cost at which WAEC would now conduct the exam, saying it is triple of the original budget prior to COVID-19, especially because of the increased logistics and the numbers of supervisors and venues as there is an upsurge in workers and personal protective equipment.

He asked for the support of both the federal and various state government as well as corporate bodies and individuals to come to the aid of WAEC by donating such items as sanitisers, face masks and others required as safety measures at any of their offices nationwide.