The ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination has been marred by widespread delays in the delivery of examination materials across several states, forcing many candidates to sit for their papers late into the night.
Reports from Oyo, Lagos and Osun states showed that candidates wrote examinations under difficult conditions on Wednesday and Thursday after question papers and answer booklets arrived several hours behind schedule.
The affected areas included Ibadan, Iseyin and Oyo towns in Oyo State, the Lekki area of Lagos State, and Osogbo in Osun State.
On Thursday, candidates billed to sit for the Agriculture Science Practical examination were reportedly stranded for hours as officials struggled to commence the exercise.
While the first batch of candidates was expected to begin by 2 p.m. and the second by 3:30 p.m., some examination centres in Oyo State had still not started the paper as of 8 p.m.
The disruption followed a similar incident on Wednesday during the General Mathematics Objective paper, where some candidates reportedly began the examination around 6:30 p.m., while others did not start until about 8:30 p.m. and completed the paper after 10 p.m.
One parent in Oyo State said his child remained stranded at the examination centre long after the scheduled time for the examination.
“It is 9 pm, and my child called that the examination is yet to start. The school staff members are still waiting for WAEC officials to bring the examination questions,” the parent said.
Another parent in Lagos recounted how her child returned home late after writing Wednesday’s paper.
“My child returned home around 10 pm on Wednesday,” she said.
