Sit up WAEC!

The just ended May/June West Africa Senior Secondary School
Examination (WASSSCE) was another testimony to the inefficiency on the
part of West African Examination Council (WAEC) to conduct a credible
and leakage-free examination. It was abound with massive leakage of
nearly almost all the course papers especially the core subjects to an
extent that every Tom, Dick and Jane laid hands on leaked papers.

For this year´s leakage, one could walk into any photocopy business
centre and request for any subject to be photocopied for him/her.
However, it was unfortunate that only the English Language which
recorded a terrific leakage was made to be retaken by all students.

Over the years, there have been reports of leakages of examination
papers at acceptable rate but this year´s leakage of the WASSSCE
papers was just awful. It was like a seasonal commodity in the market! The Basic Education Certificate Examination had majority of its paper 1 (Objectives) leaked as well. The appalling rate of leakage of examination papers still leaves big question marks that are yet to be answered. But WAEC seems not bothered.

WAEC question papers leaked consecutively and massively four years
(2000-2004) in the BECE and SSSCE including the private examinations.
I believe this got WAEC on their toes as the rate of leakage for the
subsequent years were remarkably low or absent.

The ''baddest'' scenario was in 2004 Senior School Certificate
Examination. The papers leaked to the nonsense degree. Every street
across the country was full of posters of leaked exam papers. It littered every school.

The Nov/Dec private examination in the same year was unspeakable.
Hence, the undeserving many passes recorded for that year.

The steady resurgence of massive leakage in the system again merits a
question of whether a new management is in place now.

However, if I may ask, is WAEC trying to monopolise cheap education
for the rich at the expense of the poor? The sleepless nights of
hardworking students must not be taken for granted. Please, writing
already-discussed (past) questions every year is a threat to quality
education in Ghana. WAEC must stop trading the examination papers to
unprincipled bigwigs who want their wards to have good education on
the silver platter.

More so, the widespread leakage every year has made most students
change their minds not to study hard but instead, to wait for the
eleventh hour 'carcass' (leakage). It is the perception of
students that obtaining a good result/certificate depend greatly on
the size of your pocket rather than merit.

If this trend continues, it will come to a point that Ph.D holders in
Ghana will not be able to spell their names. And our human resource
that we seek to develop for national growth will be an apology. In
fact, our workplaces will be decorated with non performing people who
will eventually throw the nation´s economy into gutters.

More so, the hardworking Ghanaian student stands to suffer if this
annual leakage ritual is not stopped as foreign countries will lose
confidence in the credibility of results awarded to Ghanaian students.
For instance, using WAEC´s certificate as International Baccalaureate
for seeking admission beyond the country will be very difficult as it
may not give a true picture of the student´s competencies.

Furthermore, re-sitting for leaked papers is a serious emotional
dissipation on students that can affect their true performance
greatly. It also reduces their morale and spirits to study as a large
number of students find it extremely difficult to study to re-sit for
leaked papers.

Abound our colleges and universities are students whose performance is
an insult to the programmes they pursue. We stand to suffer
unimaginable mediocrity as a nation in all aspect of our national
ventures if the concerned authorities do not act swiftly to this ugly
development.

Therefore, I appeal to Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service
to mobilise arsenals to support WAEC to completely get rid of
examination leakages and perhaps other malpractices that militate
against quality education needed for national development.

As the cliché goes "quality is better than quantity".

Salaam!
Abdulai Hanan R. Confidence [[email protected]]
NTC, Tamale.