Tamale, Sept. 29, GNA - Candidates and other people, who would engage in examination malpractices would now be required to pay fines ranging from 12 to 30 million cedis, instead of the existing fines between 200,000 cedis and 500,000 cedis.

The measure is contained in a new West African Examination Council (WAEC) Bill, which seeks to revise the WAEC Law, of 1991, (PNDCL 255), and which has been passed by Parliament.

The Bill, that is yet to receive the Presidential assent to become law, is in consonance with the revised WAEC Convention of 2004. Mr George Offei, a Principal Assistant Registrar of WAEC, announced this at a forum the Council organised to sensitise private candidates on examination malpractices in Tamale on Friday.

He mentioned some of the examination malpractices, which attract fines ranging between 12 and 30 million cedis, as giving an examination question paper to another candidate and disclosing the content of an examination paper to another person.

Impersonation and copying during examination attract fines between six million and 12 million cedis, while possession of offensive materials carries a fine of nine to 18 million cedis and the cancellation of entire results.

Mr Offei said fines for assault range from 12 million cedis to 24 million cedis and the cancellation of entire results, adding that, imprisonment terms for the offences range from one to two years. He warned candidates against examination leakages and mass cheating and urged them to report rumours of leakages to their headmasters or officials of WAEC.

The penalty for the two offences was the cancellation of the entire results, as well as prosecution in a court of law, he said. The Principal Assistant Registrar said WAEC had taken the new measures to ensure a level playing field for all examination candidates and to serve as a deterrent to those, who would want to cheat at examination.

He encouraged candidates to concentrate on their studies instead of searching for "shortcuts" to pass.

Mr Adam Abdul-Rahaman Mohammed, Northern Regional Branch Controller of WAEC, who educated the candidates on the "dos' and don'ts" regarding the conduct of examinations, announced that 12,000 private candidates in the region had registered to sit for various examinations this year.

He said 10,000 of the candidates had registered in the Tamale Metropolis alone, 350 in the West Gonja District, while 105 had registered in the Yendi District.

He said last year, 59 candidates in the region had their results cancelled as a result of examination malpractices.