The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released COVID-19 guidelines for the conduct of the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Patrick Areghan, made the guidelines known at a press briefing in Lagos State on Tuesday.
According to WAEC boss, the 2020 WASSCE examination would hold for five weeks, starting from the first week in August.
He noted that the final International Timetable has been sent to all the WAEC Zonal and Branch Offices for onward dispatch to schools and Federal and State Ministries of Education.
Areghan appealed to the government for Personal Protective Equipment for WAEC personnel ahead of the examination.
He said: “In conducting the examination, we have taken due cognisance of the various measures/protocols rolled out by the Federal and State governments of Nigeria, aimed at checking the spread of the pandemic.
“Schools must provide wash-hand buckets with running water, soaps, hand sanitizers and thermometer hand-gun to check the temperature of all concerned.
“All examination functionaries, including the Council’s staff on distribution; Supervisors; Invigilators, Inspectors; candidates and school officials will be required to wear face masks, wash and sanitize their hands daily and throughout the duration of the examination.
“Let me assure you and the general public that we shall adhere strictly to social/physical distancing in the examination halls by making sure that candidates sit two (2) metres apart. This means that many more classrooms will be used and many more supervisors and invigilators will be required to conduct the examination.
“This has certainly raised the supervision fee to be paid to supervisors as well as the provision of Personal Protective Equipment to staff, Supervisors and other examination officials. No doubt, all these measures have financial implications which were not contemplated at the time of drawing up the budget for the conduct of the examination.”
