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21.06.2015 Letter

A Letter To Waec: When The Foundation Is Destroyed

By Richmond Duafah
A Letter To Waec: When The Foundation Is Destroyed
21.06.2015 LISTEN

The rage of the kids in the basic educational sector against the paper cancellation as a result of the negligence of certain examiners or supervisors have really raise an eyebrows of concern and criticism. When I was young I was told that the basic education is supposed to be the predicative factor for higher height. I was also told in church that the foundation upon which a house is built is very much significant like the building itself. This means getting it wrong from the scratch connotes a scar on the future of the student in question. I heard the news of the high proliferation of the Basic Education Certificate Examinations on social media and I smiled and say this is just a repetition of history. Allow me a little digression here, it is not the fact that people have died in the flood that traumatizes Ghanaians but the fact that it has happened before and nobody took measures to put structures in place to save lives. How can student seat at home and have all the questions coming in an exams on his phone? Is he a magician? I just think there may be a wrangling in the board room not the classroom hence the innocence of the kids.

Juxtaposing my assertion with that of Christian Adai Poku, the incumbent President of NAGRAT, WAEC cannot be extricated from these leakage issue. Why? Because there have been an instance where WAEC have set questions outside the jurisdiction of recommended books for student, said the President. This jabbed me so I was thinking what on earth will cause a student to rebrand WAEC as Wicked Adult Envying Children (WAEC)?. May be the autonomy of WAEC is a disturbance to them, nobody traverses with the modus operandi of the body not even the government because of a regulatory act passed in 2006- Act 719, or the supervisors/ examiners have favorites which could either be their kids or associates, could it also be that the non-competitive nature of the body is a canker.

From the information I have heard from Hon. Okudjeto Ablakwa the deputy Minister for Education the eve of today on Good Evening Ghana, the country have invested not less than GHC 17 Million in preparing the 438, 030 students for the exams. So my questions: are we going to spend another money in setting another question and have the paper leaked again? (anyway let me leave that to Hon. Seth Tekpe to answer), Is WAEC’s discretionary power to cancel the papers fair?, what then happens to the innocent minority?. The first gentleman of the country is really working hard to get things done but I think this stuff is distractive enough to contravene his national ambition for the country.

What happens to the young innocent kids at an obscure village whose only hope is the just cancelled papers? What happens to the nation’s budget towards education in 2016? , what messages are we sending outside concerning the integrity of Mother Ghana? A paper cannot leak without an insider breaking the Chinese wall. Hmmmm it’s rather unfortunate we cannot blame Gambia, Sierre Leone, Nigeria, Liberia or where I stand. When a child refuse be ethical where he goes, the blame is heaped on the parent. So if there is an issue in the exam hall I blame the examiners, supervisors and maybe us for offering an autonomous license to WAEC to regulate the lives of our kids through paper and pen. Anyway my instincts tells me this is not the time for blame game, let us solve the problem. In my two decades of being a student and counting I can say with a thud on my chest that “no saint will reject APO”, so far as he didn’t break a safe to get it, paid his way through or pull a trigger, it is a miracle but not an obstacle. APO could be an enemy to WAEC but it’s most of the time an enemy that students find difficulty in letting go. So we should not be surprise to see parent paying money to dubious tutors to get questions for their wards. It is rather the responsibility of the council to implement it duty care as stated in their constitution and I suggest that it would be prudent enough for the council to have it own printing press across the country and investigative assignment should be designated to the Bureau of National Investigation.

WAEC !!!!!!! YOU NEED A STRONG AND A ROBUST CHECK UP SYSTEM. I wish you well

Yours Sincerely,
R. Duafah
([email protected])

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