New approach to curb exam malpractice at WASSCE, BECE announced – Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum

The government and key stakeholders have resolved to help stop the annual exam malpractice that hits major national examinations such as WASSCE and BECE.

Exam malpractice at WASSCE 2020

Stakeholders of education such as the African Education Watch during the 2020 WASSCE disclosed with evidence leaked examination questions and the general public called for the cancellation of such papers. However, this action was not taken by the GES and WAEC. The new approach to deal with exam malpractice at WASSCE, BECE has been around in our universities but not that the Pre-tertiary level.

WASSCE and BECE examination questions serialization

According to Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, the alternative approach to be introduced at the WASSCE and BECE is the serialization of the same examination questions.

This means different sets of the same examination questions will be administered to students in the same examination hall. Thus each set will be different from the others so that each student has a different version of the same paper, making it very difficult to cheat.

“The new strategy which is an initiative of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government through my Ministry in collaboration with the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), would start with this year’s edition of the Basic Schools Certificate Examination (BECE), ” he said.

The Minister announced this when he visited called on the Anglican Bishops Conference in Accra last Thursday. He disclosed that the new measure aimed at dealing with the annual exam malpractice will be would be extended to the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) after few trials, soon.

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum also called on the religious bodies in Ghana to continue to support efforts towards using education to develop the country. 

“My Ministry is ready to collaborate with all Faith-Based Organizations in the country to help push for the development of the nation’s economy through education, ”he stated.

The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana, Most Rev. Dr. Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, lauded the Government for the effort at turning the nation’s economy around through the transformation of the education sector.

“The Anglican Church has a large acreage of land across the country ready to be released to the government to support the nation’s development agenda, ” he said.

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The Archbishop appealed to Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education to help improve on the relationship existing between various agencies under his ministry and Education Managers of Faith-Based Organizations in the country. This he believes will help stakeholders to effectively work and liaise to contribute effectively for the good of all.

Source: Ghanaeducation.org