2016 WASSCE begins countrywide
This year’s West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) took off at 667 centres across the country yesterday. The examination, which is being administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), involves 274,255 candidates from 897 schools and is expected to end on May 13, 2016.
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A total of 141,524 males and 132,731 females are participating in the examination.
The WASSCE is the standard examination by WAEC in Anglophone West African countries, including Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Curbing malpractices
The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, who led a delegation to some of the examination centres in Accra, gave an assurance that adequate measures had been put in place to ensure that all stakeholders abided by the rules and regulations to ensure the credibility of the examination.
“Issues of examination malpractices go beyond the candidates. There are other stakeholders who condone and connive to facilitate it. We have identified some of the loopholes and taken measures to prevent a repeat of the disaster that befell us last year,” she said.
The team was made up of officials from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES), including the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and the Director General of the GES, Mr Jacob Kor.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman and her entourage visited centres such as the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (SHS) (PRESEC), Legon, Accra Girls’ SHS and West Africa SHS (WASS).
At all the centres visited, the examination had started in earnest, with all invigilators and policemen present to monitor and provide security.
Obey rules
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman warned all candidates to comply with all rules governing the examination and be of good behaviour.
“Rules are made in society to ensure order. It is important for all candidates to obey school rules and regulations because we do not want to get to the point where students are sacked from examinations because of indecent behaviour,” she said.
Pay fees
The minister said by the policy of the MOE and the GES, candidates who failed to fully pay their fees were not to be sacked from writing the examination.
She, however, urged parents to take up the responsibility to pay their children’s fees to ensure that school authorities delivered efficiently.
“We have collaborated with WAEC to block the results of all candidates who fail to fully pay their fees. This must not be the trend. Parents ought to pay, so that their children can have the sound mind to write the examination,” she said.
The Headmistress of PRESEC, Legon, Lady Queene Asiedu-Akrofi, who spoke to the media during the visit, said the school authorities had given the students adequate orientation on the examination.
She said the school had a strict disciplinary code that would ensure that the candidates did not infringe on the rules and regulations of WAEC.
Goodwill message
In a related development, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman sent her goodwill message to all the candidates in this year’s WASSCE and encouraged them to be confident of success.
The release, copied to the Daily Graphic, said: “I urge all candidates to conduct themselves properly in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the examination in order to enhance the credibility of the outcome.”
She urged the students to cooperate with supervisors and invigilators to ensure that the needed serene atmosphere was created and maintained throughout the period of the examination.