WASSCE & BECE exam to be cancelled: Ghanaians divided on new education policy

• The WASSCE & BECE exam to be cancelled portion of Ghana’s new education policy has got Ghanaians reacting.
• Ghanaians divided on the new education policy
• There are more questions than answers on Ghana’s new education policy brief which hit the internet a week ago.

 

Monitoring Social Media discussions and comments left on an earlier publication, Ghanaians have reacted to the new Education Policy brief, with many asking for the government to make the full document available for public scrutiny. Others have wondered if the views of the public and by extension that of stakeholders were considered in the drafting of the policy.

There are very important questions that the Ministry of Education must ponder before going ahead with the so-called University Entrance examination. This will help educate the public as well.

For some Ghanaians, the university entrance examination is not the problem, but the gargantuan and exorbitant entrance examination fees which will make it difficult for a lot of brilliant but needy students to write the exams remain the devil, the biggest scam this system is going to create.

“If the so-called new EDUCATION policy will earn us practical education, fine, but if it is just a continuation of the same useless talking type, then forget it. The BECE has outlived its usefulness and must be cancelled, every child must have access to high school irrespective of his or her academic strength. But WASSCE must be maintained, the university placement exams will bring more corruption into the system and the university administrators will use that to enrich themselves. Unless they want to adopt the US system, where you get a high school diploma from your school and those who want to go to tertiary write SAT or ACT.” Another comment left on a post read.

It certainly shows that Ghanaians are stuck in the middle of nowhere, and we all need a lot of education on this new policy, so we can be clear in our minds about where Ghana’s education is heading and what it means to the children and the youth of today.

One other brilliant suggestion made regarding how SHS students progress is to ensure students who opt for Vocational and Technical Programmes transit into technical universities and not the main universities for programmes related to the fields of study. “Should there be any change at all then I’ll rather prefer they be replaced the examination with the common entrance examination, the middle school-leaving certificate, and the Ordinary / Advanced level certificates. This will put to rest our educational reforms. Our technical and vocational schools could be expanded to accommodate especially the form four leavers who would want to learn some trade and distance themselves as much as possible from white colour jobs.”

However, Ghana Education News can confirm that the policy brief-making rounds were actually part of the new curriculum introduced in 2019. Some Ghanaians have called the public to read the entire policy before they attempt to condemn it. This is a good suggestion, however, the question on the minds of people is where to find the new education policy in full.

For others, who feel the education system is being controlled…” Our educational system is being manipulated and destroyed while we all sit aloof and watch. What is actually happening in this country? What of those who need the certificate to apply for jobs? Have we thought about how much it will cost these innocent children to write this exam? Those who are not able to pass this entrance, what’s going to be their faith? Will they be given another chance, or they will just have to go home and sit down? Sometimes the people at the ministry of education and stakeholders make me doubt their thinking abilities when it comes to certain issues.”

Good initiative. The alleged fraud in conducting WASSCE which has been worsened by the compromised integrity of the “officials” in current times is just alarming.

They are not serious about the number of graduates produced by the universities who are unemployed. After BECE, some learn other trades through apprenticeship, and they are better off.

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The new curriculum is good. But the problem here is our country’s educational infrastructure is not adequate to accommodate most of the methodologies needed to execute the curriculum properly, especially in rural areas. If we don’t take care, our educational systems will become useless. I wish our governments will agree on at least a ten-year plan to improve our educational infrastructure, so then we can be certain of employing such an expensive curriculum. The curriculum is good, but our education system might crash if we embark on it with the current infrastructure.

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Per the information out there, the WASSCE & BECE exam is to be cancelled through the new education policy and replaced with Placement Examination for Junior High School. University entrance will also replace WASSCE. Haven read the above thoughts of some Ghanaians, what do you also have to say? Leave your comment here.