GES, NaCCA confused over 2024 BECE compulsory and optional subjects -Kofi Asare

Concerningly, the GES/NaCCA are confused over the compulsory and optional 2024 BECE subjects, per the observations of Kofi Asare of Eduwatch.
There is a lack of clarity at the GES regarding the 2024 BECE subjects that WAEC will be administering to students during the first BECE to use the new curriculum.
Kofi Asare, the head of Africa Education Watch, saw this with his astute eagle eyes.
The confusion is about which subjects should be compulsory and which ones should not.
Why GES/NaCCA are confused over compulsory and optional 2024 BECE Subjects
A letter release by NaCCA on February 23rd and another press release by the GES dated March 1st, both on the same subject matter, have conflicting information.
NaCCA indicated that at a BECE orientation held from February 20th to 22nd, Computing was compulsory while the Ghanaian language was optional during the latest nationwide BECE orientation.
On February 23, a NaCCA letter released on the same issue stated that Computing and Ghanaian languages are compulsory (NCCA).
The GES released a letter on March 1 stating that Computing is now an optional subject for 2024 BECE while the Ghanaian language is compulsory.
This avoidable confusion sums up the mess managers of basic education at the GES and NaCCA are in and the troubles they are causing schools, teachers, parents, and students.
In many schools, the subjects being described as compulsory by NaCCA have been optional; hence, making them compulsory will negatively affect students.
Schools are already starting the registration of their students, and the confusion may affect the registration process and the software being used. If what GES has communicated is what is captured in the school software for the registration of BECE candidates for the 2024 examination, then NaCCA must withdraw its letter to avoid further confusion and delays in the registration process.
The question the Director General of Education and his national officers and NaCCA need to answer is: Why must they wait for three years after the new curriculum has been implemented to come and tell the entire nation which subjects are going to be compulsory and which ones will not, and in doing so, communicate different information?
The GES and NaCCA, from the confusion they have created, need to tell Ghanaians if, as education agencies of the state, they communicate accurately with each other on matters where their duties seem to overlap.
Who between the GES and NaCCA must determine which of the subjects will be compulsory or not at the BECE?
It has been three years since the new JHS curriculum was introduced, and after six years of planning, it’s now time to write the first BECE, but the GES and NaCCA are struggling to get simple things such as compulsory and not compulsory subjects wrong and moxed up.
Per the NaCCA and GES, schools, teachers, parents, and students are yet to get sample questions on the new examination question format, which the public has been made to believe will be practical questions that demand critical thinking.
Are students going to get surprises in the examination hall, or do the GES and WAEC not have practical and critical thinking questions to make available to schools and students for effective preparation?
It looks as though just as our education system was not ready for a smooth and better takeoff with regard to the introduction of the new curriculum, we are certainly not strategically and proactively ready for the 2024 BECE.
Our introduction to the new curriculum has been hurriedly implemented without textbooks, and our 2024 BECE is suffering from communication gaps and errors from the GES and NaCCA, who should know better.
Kofi Asare, the Africa Education Watch, has called on NaCCA to explain itself and withdraw the letter it released on February 23 to ensure communication sanity in matters relating to what subjects are compulsory and which ones are not.
“Whoever issued that statement at NaCCA should come and withdraw it immediately with explanations.
Enough of the circus!” he stated in his first book post on the blog.