Private Schools In Ghana Want WAEC Scrapped Because It Has Outlived Its Purpose

• Private schools in Ghana are demanding that the West Africa Examination Council be scrapped
• The association regulating activities of private schools, GNACOPS, say the council has outlived its usefulness
• GNACOPS believes the rigid examinations regime of WAEC is too old-school and inconsistent with modern principles of education and testing

Private basic and secondary schools in Ghana have began a campaign to get the West African Examination Council (WAEC) scrapped.

The Ghana National Council for Private Schools (GNACOPS), which regulates the activities of thousands of member schools, has said the council has outlived its usefulness.

National Executive Director for GNACOPS, Kwesi Enoch Nana Gyetuah has said the rigid examination regime of the WAEC is not consistent with modern tenets of education.

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“Somebody goes to school for nine years, 12 years, sits in WAEC exams – let’s say WASSCE or BECE – and then they [WAEC] will come and tell you that you have failed in Mathematics, you have failed English and because of that your line is truncated you can’t develop anymore,” 3News quoted GNACOPS in a report.

WAEC, headquartered in Accra, was established in 1952 after Ghana (then Gold Coast), Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia enacted the West African Examinations Council Ordinances in 1951.

In recent times the Council has come under criticism for reported leakage of some of its questions before scheduled examinations.

Not long ago, education think tank Africa Education Watch took on the ombudsman for all examinations at primary and secondary levels in Ghana, for the constant leakages of exam questions.

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Education Watch blamed the WAEC for failing to safeguard the integrity of the exams that it conducts.

The call by GNACOPS follows a report by WAEC that dozens of people at private schools were caught impersonating candidates in the 2022 WASSCE exams.

BECE 2020: Mathematics examination questions were leaked - WAEC confirms

YEN.com.gh has reported in a previous story that each passing year, examinations are fraught with many cases of examination malpractices.

This year's (2020), Basic Education Certificate Examination(BECE) is no different from what happens every year be it at the basic level or the senior high level.

The West African Education Council has confirmed that the mathematic examination questions for the 2020 BECE leaked.

Source: YEN.com.gh