The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, Thomas Musah, has dared the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to provide evidence backing its claims that some 235 students who sat for the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were caught to have used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) in providing answers to questions.
In a statement announcing the release of the 20023 WASSCE results, WAEC on December 18, 2023, said it has withheld the subject results of affected students after it detected the use of A.I. in answering some questions.
“Some subject results of candidates from 235 schools have been withheld for collusion and the use of artificial intelligence-generated answers. These cases are still under investigation,” the body announced.
But reacting to this development in an interview with TV3, Thomas Musah said WAEC must come clear in terms of proving their allegation with evidence backing such claims that goes to the heart of the effort and reputation of the affected students.
“He who alleges must prove it. aside that one our legal system follows what we call the accusatorial principle; if you make a claim, you will have to prove it. Seeing clearly on the letterhead of WAEC making that claim, they will need to add the evidence to it as to how it happened. But until such a time, I think we need to tread cautiously when some of these things come up. Because we are talking about reputations, the work that people have done over the years,” he stated.
According to WAEC, the withheld results are subject to ongoing investigation, and the outcome will determine whether the results of the affected students will be released or cancelled entirely.
The examination body, in their release, further indicated that 3,647 subject results faced cancellation due to candidates bringing foreign materials into examination centres.
Additionally, 839 candidates had their entire results nullified for the possession of mobile phones in the examination hall.
In all, WAEC said it has withheld the subject results of some 4,280 candidates and has cancelled the entire results of some 1,0005 candidates.
