By Rita Ugo
The recent delay in the May/June 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) English Language paper 2, has sparked reactions among students who are demanding for answers and actions from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The examination, which was scheduled to take place by 8.30am, was postponed till 4.00pm with some students writing late at night.
WAEC management later confirmed that the exam question leaked and the council had to print new English Language paper 2. The council said logistics problems led to late distribution, which resulted in some students writing the school exam late and in some cases in the evening.
In an interview with Daily Sun, some students shared their English Language paper 2 writing experience.
Olojola Moyinoluwa, a student of Nubi Private School, Ago Palace, Okota, Lagos, shared her experience of Wednesday, May 28th, when she was scheduled to write English Language paper 2.
She said that the explanation given by her principal for the delay in writing the English exam was caused by leakage of the exam question, which led to the printing of a new question paper.
Olojola revealed that students were already seated in the examination halls and because of the delay students waited for several hours before writing the examination.
“The paper was scheduled from 8.30am to 2.00pm but did not commence till 6.00pm and ended by 8.30pm and resulted in students writing late at night with candles,” the SS 111 student revealed.
She disclosed that writing an examination in the dark was not easy because the late start of the examination affected her concentration.
Said she: “I was tired and hungry, and it was hard to answer all the questions to the best of my ability and knowledge because we were not given enough time.”
Another student, Ezeji Chioma of Faith Academy, Ogba, Lagos, confirmed that the question papers were not made available when they were supposed to write the exam in the morning and students had no choice than to wait for the question paper while sitting in the school hall.
According to Ezeji, the English Language paper 2, was originally scheduled to start by 9.00am and end by 2.00pm and was delayed till 5.30pm.
“Writing an examination in the dark is not easy, but we had to adjust to the situation as we were under pressure because the delay was unexpected, which affected my timing,” she stated.
Daily Sun also gathered that many students rushed through some questions due to the situation and lack of power supply in the halls.
Many worried parents stormed their wards schools and found out they were still writing the exam.
WAEC Head of National Office (HNO), Dr. Amos Dangut confirmed that the council was made aware of the leakage via one of the private printing presses hired to WASSCE question papers.
Dangut said logistics marred the distribution of the question papers and resulted in some students writing the exam late at night in some states.
The HNO explained that the council is planning to take legal action against the printing press found wanting.
He assured that the incident would never happen again and apologized to the students and Nigerians.