No more examination leakages- Education Minister assures

The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has disclosed that the canker of leakages of the two most important national and Sub-Regional Pre Tertiary Schools’ Examinations organized by the West Africa Examinations Council, WAEC, is now a thing of the past.

This follows the discovery of a lasting antidote to the cause of the malpractice by the Ministry of Education of Ghana during a pilot ensured that this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE was conducted without a recurrence of a leakage.

The Minister, who made this known at an event by the Kumasi High School at Gyenyase near Kumasi in the Ashanti region, announced that the West African Sub-Regional Bloc is set to consider the adoption of the Examination Questions Serialization Initiative in 2023 for use by WAEC for all of its Examinations to engender trust and acceptance of the results and the Certificate issued.

The West Africa Examinations Council, WAEC, has been struggling, over the years, to find solutions to the perennial leakages of the Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE and the West Africa Senior Schools Certificate Examination, WASSCE question papers.

But addressing the 9th Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Kumasi High School, KUHIS, his alma mater, at Gyenyase in the Asokwa Municipality in the Ashanti region, the Minister of Education, Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum announced that a permanent antidote has been found to address the annual canker of WAEC leakages which was piloted with the 2022 BECE.

“There may be about 10 versions of the test, your version is different from mine, even when the questions are the same. Last year, West African Ministers met and we wanted the West African Examinations Council to serialize the WASSCE and put it to rest… so students, you have to study hard”, the Minister explained.

The Minister of Education, in amplifying the importance and relevance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM Education as the new paradigm to propel Ghana’s development agenda in alignment with the 4th Industrial Revolution, disclosed that several initiatives including piloting of Pre-Engineering course at the University of Mines and Technology, UMaT and the Technical Universities with financial incentives, are being implemented to entice Senior High School Graduates into pursuing STEM programmes.

Dr. Adutwum announced a full scholarship package, encompassing fees, residential accommodation and stipend, to all three members of the KUHIS Team at this year’s National Science and Maths Quiz for reaching the Semi Final stage.

The Asokwa Municipal Chief Executive, Akwanuasah Gyimah, commended the school for the dramatic change in its students’ high level of indiscipline to a positive one.

The MCE recollected “some years past, most parents didn’t want to hear the name Kumasi High School because of indiscipline. Today, Kumasi High School is ranked one of the most disciplined schools, if not in Ghana, in the Ashanti region”, he said.

Touching on the theme of the occasion “Enhancing the Free Senior High School Policy; The Role of Stakeholders”, a Professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Francis Agyemang-Yeboah, described the government’s flagship as one of the best inclusive public educational policies ever introduced in Ghana and asked for its sustainability.

The Headmaster of Kumasi High School, Bernard Hall-Baidoo, noted that, despite some achievements made in the past four years, certain critical challenges are undermining the quality of the academic and extra-curricular activities of the school.

“Financial challenges that sometimes knock all second cycle schools in the face. Poor ICT laboratory, poor quality school field and the contractors’ inability to complete this Assembly Hall”, the Headmaster enumerated.