System deficiencies caused 2020 WASSCE malpractices – Report

A report compiled and launched by the Africa Education Watch has noted that the malpractices, violence and chaos that characterized the 2020 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) examinations are only symptoms of system deficiencies that have been either overlooked or swept under the carpet for many years.

The report said the credibility of West African Examinations Council (WAEC’s) examination systems is important in determining/defining the quality of Ghana’s education system.

The adoption and observance of international assessment standards is critical to sustaining WAEC’s and the WASSCE’s credibility.

However, acts like leakage of markers contact details and questions have strong potential to reduce the credibility of WAEC’s assessment systems and standards, and by extension, the credibility and recognition of the WASSCE certificate.

The absence of a Regulator of Assessments that ensures WAEC’s compliance to international standards creates a vacuum in institutional accountability and the observance of quality assurance in assessment standards.

The malpractices, violence and chaos that characterized the 2020 WASSCE examinations are only symptoms of system deficiencies that have been either overlooked or swept under the carpet for many years.

Anything short of a holistic reform of our assessment system only provides maximum assurance of the recurrence of similar if not worse malpractices in 2021 and beyond.

The onus lies on the MoE to choose between the timely nursing of a curable sore and the continued delusion of its absence until it becomes an incurable cancer.