The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has been asked to hold themselves and their staff solely responsible for any leakage of examination papers of the ongoing BECE, which started on Monday.
This was contained in a press release, issued by Challenging Heights, a child rights NGO, which seeks to promote the welfare of children and the youth.
The press release was signed by the Executive Director of the NGO, Mr James Kofi Annan, at Winneba, on Monday.
Mr Annan reminded WAEC that candidates can no long be held responsible for any leakages in any of the BECE examination papers, should it happen.
He said "WAEC has a responsibility to keep the security and sanctity of the examination papers, and can no longer shift this duty unto candidates by cancelling their papers, on suspicion that it was leaked".
While no student could hold any person or group of people responsible for their failure in the examinations, WAEC cannot also hold any student ransom for any failure on their part to keep the sanctity of the examination papers.
Mr Annan cautioned that, any attempt, in future by WAEC, to punish students for their (WAEC) failure to protect their papers will be resisted through any lawful means.
"We fail to understand why there are BECE paper leakages almost every year, and when it happens it is the candidates who suffer for it while those who are supposed to keep the security of the papers are left off the hook".
Mr Annan said Challenging Heights do not encourage candidates to look for leaked examination papers to gain unfair advantage but would rather encourage students to commit themselves to working hard towards passing their papers.
While the students continue to study hard, the NGO expect WAEC to keep their examination papers with integrity and under maximum security, Mr Annan said.
As the children begin the 2010 BECE today, Challenging Heights wish all candidates the best of luck in their examinations and appealed to them to be law-abiding by obeying the rules and regulations of the examination.