Back To The Exam Hall

On Monday our kids would return to the examination halls to rewrite their cancelled papers. It is not an easy task, especially for kids their ages to have their papers cancelled in the manner theirs was done.

We have heard about how some of them even said they would not rewrite the papers. We want to think that this was said out of anger at what had befallen them.

Many efforts have gone into having them rescind their decisions, given the fact that it does not make sense to tread on such a path.

Even some parents and teachers were affected by the trauma which befell the kids. Let them shed the frustration and prepare the candidates to return to the examination hall on Monday.

It is unfortunate that the need to engage clinical psychologists to deal with the trauma suffered by the children was not thought over at the official level.

Many of the children would have needed such an intervention so that they could easily surmount the psychological blow they suffered when news about the cancellation made the headlines.

It is heart-warming to learn that the Central Ayawaso constituency Member of Parliament, Henry Quartey, sought the services of a clinical psychologist from the University of Ghana, Legon, to soothe the worried candidates.

It is gratifying that the intervention has lifted the spirits of the otherwise crestfallen students. They would go into the examination hall on Monday full of vigour for their assessment in the re-presented subjects.

The MP's intervention is a gesture worth emulating by others.

We hope that all the necessary security precautions have been taken to obviate a recurrence of the episode. It was a bad development which should never happen again in any segment of our public examinations.

As for those responsible for what happened, our fingers are still crossed waiting for word about how far investigations have gone to establish their complicity or otherwise in the dark spot in our educational history.

People are beginning to express doubts as to whether anything would come out of it. We do have doubts about what the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) can do in what is clearly a criminal case.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) would have done a better job of what is by all standards a criminal case.

Had it been the CID handling it, the suspects would have made their first court appearance by now.  Only a court adjudication and a sanction would obviate a future recurrence because it is alleged that a clique is behind it.