The Liberia National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) will, beginning April 2020, introduce a Customized Mathematical Set (CMS) on its West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and Liberia Junior High School Certificate Examinations (LJHSCE).
With the introduction of this new gadget, candidates will be barred from carrying personal materials such as calculators and watches to examination centers, because the set contains all of what the
candidates will need to sit the exams, including a calculator with an installed time piece.
The decision was reached at the 126th Meeting of the Liberia Administrative and Finance Committee (A&F) recently in Monrovia, according to a WAEC release issued Wednesday in Monrovia. The Administrative and Finance Committee is the highest decision-making body on administrative and financial matters of the institution. It comprises key national stakeholders, including the Ministries of Education, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Civil Service Agency, General Services Agency, Association of Universities, National Teachers Association of Liberia, and National Principal Association.
The resolution by the Committee to introduce the Customized Mathematical Set is intended to curtail examination malpractices and other misconducts on the part of candidates during the administration of its examinations.
The body at the meeting agreed that the mathematical set be purchased for seven United States dollars (US$7.00), and that the payment be done through the schools, and that ownership of the mathematical set will be solely the candidates’.
WAEC is Africa’s foremost examining body established by law to determine the examinations required in the public interest in the English-speaking West African countries and to conduct the examinations and award certificates comparable to those of equivalent examining authorities internationally.
It strives to provide qualitative and reliable educational assessment, encouraging academic and moral excellence, and promoting sustainable human resource development and international cooperation.
It comprises the five English speaking West African countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.
TSS/abj/APA