Leaked Promotion Examinations: A Harbinger Of A Corrupt And Loose Educational System

The issue of leakages of examination questions at all levels of the Ghanaian educational system seems not to abate any time soon. The just ended teacher's promotion aptitude test meant to promote teachers to various ranks in the teaching profession has proved to be the exclamation mark and an indication of how corrupt and lose our education system is especially where examinations are involved.

Examinations conducted in Ghana like the End of Term examinations, Basic Education Certificate Examinations(BECE), West African Senior School Certificate Examinations(WASSCE), and End of Semester Examinations in tertiary institutions have been fraught with malpractices at various degrees.

Reports from Joy News' Central Regional Correspondent, Richard Kwadwo Nyarko, after intercepting some of the questions, confirmed that both the test items and the marking scheme circulated at the public domain hours to the examinations. With the aid of social media, these questions spread like wildfire in a harmattan season. This is really pathetic.

This unfortunate situation is a real sign of how corrupt and loses our educational system has been, is, and would be if some seriousness and fairness are not injected into the system. It is shocking how the Institute of Educational Planning at the University of Cape Coast, the body responsible for the conduct of the aptitude test, could not superintend over a leakage-free aptitude test for teachers. Yes, a fair portion of the blame must be laid at the doorstep of the UCC's IEP.

Be it intentional or unintentional, the examining body has done a great deal of disservice to teachers. The standard nature of the questions would have provided the best procedure to promote teachers, but for the leakages. If the examinations are canceled, these teachers who sat the tests may be plunged into a state of emotional distress considering that this promotion exercise should have been carried out last year. Having already been delayed and denied promotion for a year, this year's group due for promotion continue to be victims of external circumstances and both the GES and the examining body owe them an apology.

In spite of the above, it would only be fair to call for a cancellation of the aptitude tests for Assistant Director II, Assistant Director I and Deputy Director. A new set of tests should be conducted for these teachers within the shortest possible time. The candidates should also be compensated both for rewriting of the aptitude test and for the undue delay of their promotional process.

If these aptitude tests fraught with leakages are not canceled, then candidates who fail the test would have every legal right to reject the results on the grounds of fairness and can go ahead to seek redress at the court of law.

It is, finally, expected that the GES constitute an investigative body to look into the issue of leakage of both the questions and marking scheme. The outcome of the investigations should be communicated to teachers with culprits brought to book to restore the confidence that teachers have reposed in the use of aptitude tests as a replacement for the old interview system.