WAEC acquires magic scanners for document authentication, hosts AEAA Conference 

In line with technological trends and to continually deliver on its mandate, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is set to acquire “Magic Scanners” for authentication of documents.

Head of National Office (HNO) of WAEC Nigeria, Mr. Olu Adenipekun who disclosed this at a news conference to announce the council’s hosting of the 37th annual conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) billed to hold between August 5 and 9 in Abuja said to be continually relevant, the council must be ready to embrace new technologies and innovation.

Adenipekun said the weeklong event with the theme: “Innovations in educational assessment,” will draw participants from all parts of the world.
 
The HNO added that innovation will be one of the key subjects of discourse at the conference, stressing that technology has turned the world into a global village and the council would need to rely on new trends  to continuously deliver on its mandate.

He said, “This conference is all about coming together to encourage relevant assessment activities among members. Participants will want to see how they are responding to new challenges, financing, as well as the development of human capital.

This will enable us to share knowledge on issues of evaluation and assessment, and sponsor international participation in the field of educational testing and assessment within member-countries.
“One issue that will be at the front burner is how we can apply technology to improve our service delivery.”

I place of technology in the education sector is one thing that will take the centre stage by looking at how innovations and technologies can be deployed in the conduct of public examinations in Nigeria.

“In this regard, therefore, WAEC has concluded plans to acquire three Magic Scanner PS 1000 from a company in the UK which has shown interest to unveil this technology at the conference.

“This scanner will be used to authenticate documents and responses before they are taken to the clouds,” he explained.

Adenipekun also announced plans by the council to acquire a tracking device that would be used to dispatch examination materials.

He said the acquisition would be from another UK company that would also participate at the conference.

While shedding more light on the conference, the WEAC Chief said representatives of about 25 African countries,  and others from Europe and America, would participate in the conference.

Besides, heads of tertiary institutions and other administrative officers would be expected to attend the conference.

The HNO assured that adequate security has been put in place for the event.

WAEC will be hosting the conference for the second time. The first was in 2007. The council jointly hosted the conference in 2010 with the National Examinations Council and National Business and Technical Examinations Board.