File photo of students taking the WASSCE last year
A lecturer at the University of Education – Winneba’s Institute of Distance Education, Counsellor Daniel Fenyi, has said that he is not surprised at the outcome of investigations by the Africa Education Watch on the 2020 WASSCE examinations.
According to the Africa Education Watch, question papers for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were leaked to some candidates.
Reacting to the report, Daniel Fenyi stated in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show: “If you have followed education in Ghana for some time, you will realize that what Africa Education Watch came out with is not surprising. In fact, if they had discovered something different from this, then that would have been a surprise.”
Stating his reason for this argument, he advanced that the demeanor of the students during the time of the examination showed that really there had been some exam questions leaked.
“During the writing of the WASSCE, it can be recalled that after the Integrated Science paper was written, there was chaos in the country with the reason being that the students felt that some particular questions should have appeared and it didn’t appear and they were disappointed; insulting President Akufo Addo and headmasters. This was unprecedented.”
The educationist noted that the sector has been taken over by politics such that politicians now determine the failure or success of students in examinations such as the WASSCE.
Background
Education think tank, Africa Education Watch, confirmed in a recent report that the 2020 WASSCE questions had been leaked to candidates.
The group said its independent assessment of the examination found that questions were leaked on the dawn of each paper and sent to various social media groups.
“At around 2:00am on the 17th of August 2020, copies of the Core Mathematics (2) paper were circulating on social media,” it reported, explaining that the questions were leaked around the time they were being transported from the WAEC depots ahead of the exams.
Africa Education Watch also noted that students often paid for the leaked questions.
As part of several recommendations, the Africa Education Watch wants the government of Ghana to take steps to break the monopoly enjoyed by the West African Examination Council, WAEC, in assessing students and conducting examinations in Ghana by regulating the powers of the council.