NaCCA asked to organize Standardised Test mop up exercise

NaCCA asked to organize Standardised Test mop up exercise by Africa Education Watch. Eduwatch called for the Test mop up exercise to be organized for schools that couldn’t partake in the exams after the end of the 2022 edition of the National Standardised Test for primary two and four students.

In a blog post sighted by AcademicWeek.com, EduWatch said its recommendation is influenced by a review of the 2022 Standardised Test on Zoom on December 18, 2022, with teachers and stakeholders in the education sector.

“On Sunday, December 18, 2022, Eduwatch held a rapid stakeholder review of the 2022 NST to discuss the successes and challenges as part of efforts to improve,” the Education think tank – Africa Education Watch stated in the post.

EduWatch added that “It emerged primarily, that the test scheduled for 9:00 am, ended up starting at 11:00 am, and in some cases, after 3:00 pm, leading to the exclusion of some learners from this important diagnostic exercise.”

“For instance, in Opah M/A Primary school in Ga West Municipal in the Greater Accra region, the test started as late as 3:30 pm resulting in learners being able to write only the English language paper

In that same district, learners at the Epiphany Anglican Basic school were unable to write both papers at all. Some learners in public and private schools were unable to participate in both subjects in the assessment,” it noted.

Less than 8% of private schools the Watch said participated in the Standardised Test for basic four pupils due to poor coordination adding that many private schools could not participate, even though made full payment to NaCCA.

“It is worth emphasising, that the participation of all Ghanaian basic school learners, whether public or private is critical to improving teaching, learning and learning outcomes in line with the SDG 4 targets.

We call on the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to organise a mop up exercise at the beginning of the next academic year, for private schools who paid but could not participate in the test, and public schools who could not write all papers,” it stated.

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The Education Watch has consequently urged the Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and the Ministry of Education to create a space for Civil Society participation in the planning and monitoring of the examination.

“NaCCA and the Ministry of Education must create a space for Civil Society participation in the planning and monitoring of the NST. This should start with a multi-stakeholder review of the 2022 NST for the purpose of improving the process.

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A memorandum detailing key issues and recommendations for improving the NST organization has been submitted to NaCCA and the NST Coordinator at the Ministry of Education,” Africa Education Watch disclosed in the blog post.

This year, a total of 750,000 primary two and four learners in public and some private schools participated in the National Standardized Test (NST) in literacy and numeracy from 5th to Friday, December 16, 2022.