WASSCE leaks: Blame lazy students, GES - Gyasi

A retired educationist, I. K. Gyasi, has told Accra100.5FM that the rise in instances of exam leakage in the country could be blamed on the attitude of some students and the pressure on schools to produce perfect examination results.

Four papers at the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were leaked on the eve of the exams. The Oral English, Integrated Science, Social Studies, and Physics papers were available to some candidates while some were found circulating on social media, raising concerns over the credibility of officials working with the exam body, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

According to Mr Gyasi, who spoke with Chief Jerry Forson on the station’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, on Thursday April 7, although cases of papers being compromised are not new, the regularity of the problem should first be attributed to students.

He said many students had become accustomed to the idea that they would have access to examination questions at the end of their three-year studies, hence, they do not put their shoulders to the wheel regarding their studies.

“I think students who go after these leaked questions do not make the effort to learn hard from the outset because they are of the mentality that: ‘When it gets to exams, I will have access to the questions even before I sit for it,” stated the former headmaster of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Kumasi.

He also added that the few admission spots at public tertiary institutions in Ghana which most high school leavers have to compete for was also a factor.

“Today [in Ghana], in spite of how well you perform [in the exams], you may miss out on admission to university, teacher training colleges, nurses’ training colleges, and other institutions. And your chances are slimmed further in the face of a large number of persons applying to be admitted to tertiary institutions,” the educationist added.

Mr Gyasi added that the requirement of above average grades to guarantee acceptance into such few tertiary institutions had led to panic among students, compelling parents to go to every length, including offering cash for the purchase of examination questions, in order to attain that ambition.

Mr Gyasi also stated that the pressure to do well at all costs had trickled down to basic schools, saying though he had no evidence, he would not refute that some school heads were complicit in buying exam questions for their pupils.

He singled out the Ghana Education Service (GES) for blame in that regard, stating that they had in the past published the names of the best performing schools in national examinations, sending a wrong signal to schools not mentioned to do everything possible to come to national attention.

“That move was needless, that action by the GES did not help matters,” Mr Gyasi stated.

“It’s frustrating, sad. I fear it will get to a point if you have a certificate, employers will disregard it saying you obtained it by deceitful means, but probably that person got it on merit.”