A leakage of the English Language Essay Paper 1 on going West African School Certificate (WASC) examinations on Wednesday caused the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to delay commencement of English Language across Nigeria, forcing the students to finish the examination late in the evening.

Many schools in Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin and other cities across the country experienced the lateness as questions had to be changed to counter the leakage of the paper.

In many schools across Lagos, the objective English paper which was supposed to start at 9.30am was delayed till 11.30am.  The second paper, a test of oral English which was supposed to be for 45 minutes started around 12.30pm. The third, theory started 4.55pm and ended at 6.55pm.

In Ibadan, Oyo State, the English Essay examination slated as a morning paper was shifted to late in the evening because the questions had allegedly leaked.

At Oba Akinbiyi High School, Mokola, Ibadan Boys High School, Oke-Bola, and Vale College, Iyaganku, confirmed that English Essay examination commenced at 5:30 p.m.while the English language Multiple Choice Questions examination held in the morning

Students, parents, teachers and supervisors, who did not want their names published, expressed unease due to the late commencement of the two-hour examination.

According to them, the shift would disorientate the students and further distress was caused by the late commencement of the second paper.

“The English Essay question paper was changed that was why there was delay in the commencement,” a supervisor said.

A parent at Vale College in Iyaganku in Ibadan criticised the holding of the examination very late.

According to her, the delay could affect the students many who had been up since 6;00a.m.

“The gap between the first and second paper is too long and no tangible reason was given other than logistics.

“This is not fair considering that it is English paper which is compulsory for them to pass,” she said.

A candidate said he just submitted his paper and was unhappy  at how the examination went.

“I just have to submit and leave, the stress was too much. We were supposed to have written this paper in the afternoon,” he said.

Speaking on this development, the National Secretary of NAPPS, Dr Kayode Adeyemi, said the situation was due to logistics issues from WAEC, which most schools did not envisaged.

“WAEC had a problem with logistics and that accounted for the delay. But the examination later started though behind schedule.

“But schools with electricity supply might not have challenges but those that don’t alternative power source would need to finish before it is very dark,” Adeyemi said.

Officials of the examination body in the state declined to speak and directed that its headquarters should be contacted for comments.

In Ilorin, Kwara State Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe has said that the delay in commencement of  the  English Essay paper in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination was not the making of Kwara government

Reacting to the delay in commencement of the Essay paper of the examination on Wednesday in Ilorin, Olohungbebe said that the examination body, WAEC, saw the need to reprint the question paper.

The commissioner said ”WASSCE is not a state organised examination and when we discovered that the question papers didn’t arrive on time, we called and were intimated with the situation of things.

”The papers arrived in Kwara past 4:00p.m. which depicted why they started the examination late in all the centres. It is an unusual occurrence and we have never had a situation like this”, he said.

However, parents expressed displeasure at the late commencement of the English Essay paper, which was scheduled to have been held in the morning. Some of the parents said the examination body should have postponed the examination to a later date instead of endangering the lives of the students.

Additional reports from NAN

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