Break WAEC monopoly by involving other assessment bodies – Africa Education Watch
Think tank wants government to break monopoly of WAEC in exam assessment
Education Think Tank, Africa Education Watch, has urged the government of Ghana to take steps to break the monopoly enjoyed by the West African Examination Council, WAEC, in assessing students and conducting examinations in Ghana by regulating the powers of the council.
This call is part of twelve recommendations proffered by the education think tank after conducting thorough research and investigation into the 2020 WASSCE.
According to the Executive Director of African Education Watch, Kofi Asare, the research was triggered by the “gravity of malpractices witnessed in the 2020 West African Secondary Schools Examination and the unprecedented leakage of names and contacts of examiners and questions for all but two subjects.”
Presenting a report on the research conducted, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, said independent international examining bodies should be involved in the examination and assessment space as a good way to promote healthy competition in the examination space.
“The Education Ministry must set up a regulator of assessment to regulate WAEC and other assessment bodies before their activities become ungovernable. We need to break the WAEC monopoly. WAEC operates in other countries, but they do not have a monopoly in Nigeria, for instance.”
“There are about six or five internationally reputable assessment bodies in Ghana who have been conducting examination every year and no one hears of any leakages, we need to give them an opportunity to participate in the exam sector, bring in various assessments that they use in assessing so that WAEC will compete and when competition comes in, we believe that WAEC will adopt technologies that will reduce the human involvement or human element which is one of the key reasons why there is leakage.”
“We think that our assessment system needs to be restructured and made credible and accountable, or it will get to a point where our certificates would lose relevance. If we do not prosecute people who engage in such criminal conduct, we will never be sending any signal to the practitioners within the ‘apor’ value chain,” he added.
By: Stella Annan |myactiveonline.com
