Number of results withheld confirms ‘institutionalized malpractices’ in schools – Kofi Asare
The number of withheld results in the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) on suspicion of malpractices, according to an education think tank,Africa Education Watch, confirms suspicions of pervasive, “institutionalized malpractices in many schools”, Kofi Asare, the executive director has said.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, December 9, 2021, Mr. Asare stated that “Preliminary Observations on WASSCE 2021 results for the second year running, over 50% of students obtained A1-C6 in the core papers. In terms of general targets for WASSCE Pass Rate in the Education Strategic Plan, GES met targets for Maths, Integrated Science and Social Studies. This is great, even though the target for English was missed. Now, let’s look beyond the national averages.
“The problem in our education system is the inequitable distribution of learning outcomes. National Averages have always looked good but potentially misleading without conducting a regional and district analysis to find out how many students are passing from Lambuise SHS, Buipe SHS, Zabzugu SHS, Takoo SHS etc which have a history of 0% WASSCE pass rates. By 2019, all the about 30 schools in Upper West Region were scoring under 1% when national pass rates was nearing 50%. It would be great to base any analysis of the results on the disaggregated regional and school-level data which is not yet available but would be done.
“The number of withheld results on suspicion of malpractices increased by 950% from 2020’s 384 to 3667, confirming our allegations of widespread, institutionalized malpractices in many schools, bearing in mind the 2020 baseline was not devoid of malpractices and leakages. While a lot of the 2021 malpractices fell through the cracks due to WAEC’s inertia towards invigilation, a few were caught in the web.
“In addition to the above, subject scripts of candidates in 194 schools representing 20% of WASSCE schools are withheld and still being investigated. These are scripts, not even results. If after conducting exams, you end up withholding and investigating subject scripts from over 20% of your schools, what does it mean for the credibility of your assessment? Congrats to the teachers and students who taught and wrote the papers with integrity and came out with genuine results,” he concluded.
The results of the 2021 WASSCE were released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Wednesday, December 8.
For various examination malpractices such as bringing foreign material into the examination hall, tearing off parts of question papers, and collusion, the exam body said a total of 1,339 subject results and 174 entire results of candidates have been cancelled.
“The Entire Results of 3,667 candidates have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into various cases of examination malpractice detected during and after the conduct of the examination.
“The scripts of candidates from 194 schools in certain subjects have also been withheld and are being scrutinized. The withheld results of candidates may be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations.
“The Council wishes to express its sincerest gratitude to all stakeholders especially the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, the Security Agencies and Examiners, for their support and co-operation during the conduct of the examination and release of results”, the statement added.
Eduwatch had previously petitioned the Ghana Police Service’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to look into how five (5) papers were reportedly leaked during the WASSCE.
It said at the time that the Police should “investigate the source of the overnight and dawn leakage of 5 papers, including today’s rescheduled Physics paper 2, Food and Nutrition 3, English Language 2, Elective Mathematics 2, and NABTEX English 2”.
WAEC was forced to reschedule two papers on Wednesday, September 15, due to what it termed exam irregularities.
The Council feared the papers – Physics and Business Management – were leaked.
The Head of the Council’s Test Administration Division, George Ohene-Mantey, said at a press conference that “The cheating social media groups were in full swing prior to the conduct of the Mathematics and the English language papers on 9th and 13th September.”
“After the administration of the test, careful scrutiny of the several versions [of suspected leaks] received indicated that extracts of parts of the questions in Mathematics Elective Two and Section A of English Language Two were circulated on social media platforms.”
Eduwatch urged the Police Service to take this matter up.
“We are unable to share the content of our Petition since it could interfere with investigations. We will keep working with state agencies to improve accountability and credibility in Ghana’s pre-tertiary assessments sector”, Executive Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare posted on Facebook.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
