Eschew exam malpractices - Speakers urge WASSCE candidates
Speakers at a sensitisation programme in Accra have charged final-year senior high school (SHS) students to desist from engaging in any form of malpractices during this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates.
They said engaging in examination malpractice would not only affect the credibility of the examination, but lead to the cancellation of their papers.
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The speakers included a Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour; the President of the Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPSS), Mr. I.K. Mensah, and the Director of Ideal College, Dr. Joseph Kobina Essibu.
Programme
They made the call at a programme organised by the management of Ideal College, a private second-cycle school, to educate final-year students on the dos and don’ts of the WASSCE. It was also to motivate and encourage them ahead of the examination.
According to the speakers, the sanctity of the WASSCE for school candidates was very important, hence the need for all to join hands to ensure that it was smooth and without any malpractice.
Rev. Fordjour noted that chew and pour during examination would not help them and that it was commitment to their books and hard work that would help them to excel not only in their examinations but life in general.
He advised the candidates to eschew all forms of examination malpractices and pursue excellence and hard work.
Innovation
He charged the candidates to think innovation and entrepreneurship in order to make a difference in society.
Rev. Fordjour commended the management of Ideal College for the scholarships it had provided students and its commitment to help them excel academically and in life.
Setting the tone for the discussion, Mr. Mensah reminded the candidates of the need to do independent work while in the examination halls as any act of collusion on their part could result in punitive measures against them.
Examples
Mr. Mensah, who cited some of the malpractices by candidates in past examinations, said they should also desist from taking foreign materials into the examination as that was against the examination rule.
Moreover, he said candidates must not take mobile phones into the examination hall as that was an examination offence.
He told the candidates that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) did not take delight in failing candidates but once they tried to cheat it would not be tolerated.
For his part, Dr. Essibu expressed concern about what he said was the unfair treatment meted out to private school teachers over the issue of invigilation.