The West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Ghana Education Service (GES) have decided to install metal detectors at all examination centres during the upcoming West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to check fraud and cheating.
Reverend Simon A. Asige, Director for Secondary Schools of the Ghana Education Service, made this known when he addressed the Fifth Speech and Prize Giving-Day and 22nd Anniversary Celebration of Agona Kwanyako Senior High and Technical School on Saturday.
The celebration was under the theme: “Discipline, an Effective Tool to Achieve Academic Excellence”.
According to him this would help reduce rampant examination malpractices including students concealing mobile phones and other foreign materials into examination halls that resulted in the cancellation of some examination papers.
Rev. Asige said the GES would ensure that 2013 WASSCE was conducted devoid of cheating and other related issues that could undermine the credibility of the examinations.
“This 2013 WASSCE is historic because this is the first time GES is organizing examinations in the same year for both form three and four students,” he said.
Rev. Asige said the measure would also be applied in the November/December Private Examinations and cautioned students to desist from examination malpractices.
He therefore advised parents and guardians to encourage their wards and children to study hard to enable them to achieve better results.
On the strike action, Rev. Asige said everything possible was being done by GES and Government to resolve the impasse between members of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).
Mrs Mary Asare Addo, Agona East Director of Education and Acting Headmistress of the school, appealed to the government and other non-governmental organizations to come to the aid of the school.
She said the school could boast of one single bungalow for the teachers adding that majority of them commute from Agona Swedru and other near-by towns, a situation that affected teaching and learning.
She expressed regret that the school with a population of 1,377 is using a 20-seater library capacity with no assembly hall, modern kitchen and others.
Dr Gordon Senanu, Acting Director of the Language Center, University of Ghana, Legon, appealed to students to uphold discipline which was the only way to achieve academic excellence.
He called on them to desist from demonstrations and other related issues that could retard their progress in future.