The Babatope Memorial High School Old Students Association, Ikoro Ekiti (BATOMEH), has lamented increased cases of malpractice among students sitting for the West African Senior School Examination (WASSCE) and the General Certificate of Examination (GCE), and called for concerted efforts from all concerned to stamp out the menace.

Recall that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) withheld results of about 215,267 candidates, who sat the May-June exams due to exam malpractice.

Some of the results were, however, released last Wednesday after the 78th meeting of the examination body held to discuss issues of malpractice and irregularities reported during the exams.

Reacting to the development at a press briefing in Ado Ekiti, the Secretary of the association, Taiwo Akanbi, urged Governor Abiodun Oyebanji to declare zero tolerance for exam malpractice.

“I witnessed an unfortunate incident where a student was saying that nobody can pass WASSCE without support or assistance. We hear of special centres. At the end of the day, we see students passing WASSCE but unable to defend their results at the university.”
Speaking on the poor state of infrastructure in the school, the president of the association who was represented by Mr Bamidele Lucas, urged the Ekiti State government to upgrade the facilities, noting that effective teaching and learning cannot take place in an unconducive environment.

Lucas lamented that most of the structures they used 25 years ago are still the ones being used, despite being in very deplorable condition.

“You know that teaching and learning environment is so sensitive that if you don’t provide necessary infrastructure, you can’t get the desired results.

He also expressed concern over lack of teachers, saying this informed the association’s decision to hire teachers to augment what the government has provided.