Key Points
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Court jails teacher and students for WASSCE malpractice.
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Offenses included impersonation and leaked answers during exams.
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WAEC shut down an exam center over malpractice reports.
A district magistrate court in Kasoa has sentenced a teacher and two university students to prison for their roles in WASSCE malpractice during the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The convicts include Samuel Armah, a teacher at Ghana College SHS, and two students, Kwame Oteng Nkansah and Amedeka James. The three were found guilty of conspiring to cheat during the Social Studies Paper 1.
Armah was caught with leaked answers on his phone while serving as an invigilator. Prosecutors told the court that he dictated the content to candidates, breaching examination rules. The court handed him eight months in prison and fined him 80 penalty units.
Students punished for impersonation during exams
The two university students were also convicted for impersonation. Prosecutors said Nkansah, a Level 100 student at Accra Technical University, wrote the paper on behalf of a Ghana College SHS candidate, Quayson Francis Atta.
Similarly, James, a Level 100 student at the University of Ghana, attempted to impersonate his twin brother, Amedeka Justice, who was also registered for the exam. Both were sentenced to six months in prison each, in addition to fines of 80 penalty units.
The magistrate stressed that their actions undermined the credibility of the examinations and deserved custodial punishment to serve as a deterrent.
WAEC takes action to protect exam credibility
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has intensified efforts to safeguard the integrity of the 2025 WASSCE.
Officials announced the closure of the Adventist Day Senior High School center in Kumasi following widespread reports of malpractice.
Candidates originally scheduled at the school were relocated to the WAEC regional office in Kumasi. Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, mayor of Kumasi, made the announcement during a monitoring exercise at various centers.
He emphasized that authorities will not tolerate misconduct, as the credibility of the examination must be protected at all costs.
The WASSCE remains one of the most important examinations for secondary school students in West Africa, and any form of malpractice continues to draw strict penalties.
Authorities and education stakeholders are expected to increase monitoring in coming days to discourage future violations.
