BECE & WASSCE "PASSCO" app launched
An android application that will enable final year students to easily access past questions on their mobile phones and tablets, and make all the past questions and answers for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) readily available and accessible has been launched in Accra.
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Launched by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Revo Education, a software engineering firm, Mr Archibald Annan, with the assistance of the Founder and Executive Director of Meagasa Mathematics Academy, Prof. Sitsofe E. Anku, the application, PassCo, is to help remove the tussle and hassle that candidates usually go through when preparing for their final examinations.
Technology in education
In his address, Mr Annan said the time had come to make quality education easily accessible and affordable through technology, adding that it was important to incorporate technology in Ghana’s education delivery system.
“The benefits of technology in education are immense and Revo Education has been at the forefront of leading this change by developing apps and other web-based software that will revolutionise education through technology in Ghana and Africa,” he said.
In 2014, Revo Education developed ‘Kenkan’, a platform for digitising textbooks and making them available on android phones.
The company has currently digitised 42 textbooks from primary four to junior high school (JHS) three.
Mr Annan added that parents usually spent a lot of money in purchasing past questions for all the examinable subjects for their wards, adding; “The PassCo app makes this resource available over a 24-year period at 10 per cent of the cost.”
He also used the opportunity to appeal to corporate institutions to help donate android devices to be taken to deprived communities to be distributed to students to have access to the app.
How the app works
Explaining how the app works, the General Manager of OMT Ghana, a partnering company, Mr Kevin Baffoe, said the app could be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
He added that the total file size was about 20MB and did not require Internet after it had been downloaded and installed.
“All users must create a Revo account and thereafter sign in with their telephone number and password. Go to google play store, search for PassCo and download for use,” he said.
Mathematics education
Prof. Anku lauded Revo Education for the initiative, noting that it would reduce the burden on final year students as they prepared for their BECE and WASSCE every year.
He also called for intensification of Mathematics education at all levels of the Ghanaian education.
According to him, if the government paid more attention to Mathematics education, it would equip Ghanaians to solve many of their challenges.
Prof. Anku said the current educational system where a lot of attention was given to theory rather than practicals was detrimental to the development of the nation.
“Our leaders must give attention to Mathematics education where more attention is given to practicals than theoretical,” he added.