Students Access WAEC Questions, Answers Online For N1,000

Students Access WAEC Questions, Answers Online For N1,000

Examination malpractice in Nigeria has taken a frightening dimension as students are now offered answers to the ongoing West African Examination Council (WAEC) test questions hours before the exam papers are written on several websites and blogs.

No fewer than four websites offering answers for free and for a token yesterday provided answers to examination papers on Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Religious Studies and Chemistry which were written yesterday a few hours before the exams started.

Some of the websites and blogposts advertised the cost of getting answers, giving options of receiving the answers either as text messages or passwords to specific areas of their websites where full answers are obtained; only part of the answers are provided on the websites.

One of the websites advertising for mathematics (which will be written this Thursday) wrote on its home page: “Special package! Maths Runs. Subscribe for maths early to get registered early. Good News: tell you friends that www.codedclass.com have (sic) mathematics answers and will be posted sent by 11-12am Wednesday midnight. Mathematics questions are now ready!

“Ensure you subscribe to get it before time. Direct=N1,000 MTN card; Password=N500 MTN card. Forward the card, your name, your subject to 090xxxxxxx. Transfer is allowed. Please don’t call just; send your details because the number might be switched off/divert due to too much calls.”

Posing as a distressed student in need of answers to the upcoming mathematics paper, LEADERSHIP’s correspondent called the number provided on another website advertising answers. The male voice that answered the call said that to get answers via SMS would cost N800 while a password which would require logging on to the website would cost N500.

When LEADERSHIP asked how the password worked as it was cheaper, he advised that getting the answers via the online platform, WhatsApp, would be better as it also costs N500 and easier to get, saying he was not sure “if you can really use the Internet like that.”

Another website had lower rates as it offered answers via SMS for N600 and N500 for password. No fewer than four websites were discovered to be involved. On one of the websites which displayed three phone numbers, two of the numbers went straight to voicemail, while the other one was constantly engaged.

When LEADERSHIP got through, a male voice denied having the ability to ‘help’ with the exams this year. He said his website ran educational materials and advertised on some other websites, adding that his number may have been mixed up with “some expo website.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State police command has said it will beam its searchlight on the social medium school portal called www.solutionclass.com.

The medium was said to have provided answers to students sitting for WAEC and JAMB (university entrance) examinations two hours before the examination commences, at a fee.

The Lagos State police public relations officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, gave the assurance that the police would look into the matter.

While speaking on the issue with LEADERSHIP at the office of the state commissioner of police, command headquarters, Ikeja, Badmos said: “We are going to beam our searchlight on it. If we find anything incriminating, we’ll commence investigation. For now, it seems like an observation. I don’t think it is real. You know, some Nigerians are gullible, but when we beam our searchlight on it, we will know whether it is real or not,” she said.

Asides solutionclass.com, other websites advertising answers for a token include morebaze.com, humbleloaded.com.ng and coadedclass.com

The exam body itself has admitted knowledge of the issue but said it was probing the occurrence.

The public affairs officer of WAEC, Mr. Demianus  Ojijeogu, said, “We are  still investigating the matter. We don’t have the staff strength that can follow all the supervisors from our custodial centres to the exam halls. We have put in place measures to forestall leakage of our exam papers.”