WAEC raises alarm over students use of AI to cheat in exams

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ghana said the rising cases of examination malpractice with students generating artificial intelligence AI answers in the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is worrisome.
According to WAEC Ghana head of national office Wendy Enyonam Addy-Lamptey, there needs to be thorough investigations to find out who are behind the unwholesome act. Adding that participation of parents, school and teachers in the scheme cannot be ruled out.
“It is sad that the youth are being trained in this manner; some candidates are desperate to take their mobile phones into the halls to use artificial intelligence to answer questions,” Mrs Addy-Lamptey said at a one-day seminar on WAEC laws and operations in Accra.
She called on the authorities to enforce the laws against exam malpractices to bring the situation under control.
Mrs Addy-Lamptey explained that in the past seven years, a lot of examination-related legal issues had come up; hence, the need to engage the judiciary as a major stakeholder to ensure the integrity of the examinations.
Section 6 (b) and (c) of the WAEC Act 2006 (Act 719) states that “a candidate who, during an examination (a) is in possession of a textbook, electronic device or material in the examination room without lawful authority, proof of which shall be on the candidate; (b) copies from notes, electronic device or a textbook without lawful authority, proof of which shall be on the candidate, commits an offence and is liable to summary conviction to a fine of not less than 50 penalty units and not more than 100 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.
“The person shall in addition be disqualified from taking the examination, and if the person has already taken a paper at the examination, the paper shall be cancelled by the council,” the Section further states.
WAEC released the 2023 results of School Candidates in Accra last Monday, with the subject results of candidates from 235 schools withheld for allegedly using AI-generated answers during the examination.
WAEC further cancelled the subject results of 647 candidates for bringing foreign materials such as prepared notes, textbooks and printed materials into the examination halls.
Up to 839 candidates also had their results cancelled for possessing mobile phones in the examination halls, while the council also withheld the subject results of 4,280 candidates and the entire results of 1,005 for various suspected offences.
A statement issued by the council last Monday said the withheld results of the candidates might be released or cancelled depending on the outcome of investigations. With Graphics online report.