If I am asked to apportion blame, I will channel it to teachers for the unprofessional conduct portrayed in exams halls. My professional training as a teacher taught me that, the role of the teacher is not only to uplift the academic performance of the learners but also to shape and foster their personalities through training. Not to expose them to malpractices and the route of criminality.
I am utterly sad, and my sadness is more than justified upon seeing and receiving the WASSCE results of the students for this and past years. The government and the various institutions that are responsible for supervising quality education are always engaged in unnecessary celebrations when the results of students are released. It is not unaware that we can not achieve the quality education we are seeking without the proper supervision of learners' examinations.
It is worrisome that these individuals who possess the power to strengthen and monitor how the exams are written are engrossed in political comparisons just to score needless political points. What is even more painful is that the success of the students is not related to the hard work of the teachers, but to the government that is currently in power. You will not be surprised to hear government officials condemning teachers for the failure and awkward position of the students. It's high time we separate politics from education or else we will have no option but to increasingly expose our learners to exam malpractice.
Thankfully, I have seen many people who raised concerns about the current performance of the students, and I must be fair to them. That is not to say that they are combating the progress of this country as many people might think. What baffles me is that parents and teachers pretend as though they don't know where the performance of their wards is coming from. Parents and teachers know their wards better than anyone, and that is incontrovertible. It is not oblivion to a quantum number of Ghanaians that the current examination outcome is caused by malpractice, and I can say it without any modicum of doubt.
Anyone who holds the country in his heart will not rejoice, but will take a second thought on this with a high sense of comprehension that has not been kidnapped by emotions and sentiments. It will interest you to note that, many students had As and Bs in the English Language but can not write their names and construct simple sentences. Those who can not add or subtract simple integers are getting As and Bs in Mathematics. Are we going to continue pretending, knowing very well that all is not well in our education cycle? We have seen it as a favor given to them but fail to recognize that we are crippling the wings of our current and unborn generation.
Sadly, Politicians have become a threat to our education system, which many Ghanaians failed to catch sight of. We rather dine and whine with them thinking that they are our only source of survival. The moment we believe that we can not do anything without their helping hands that is the time we are being controlled by them. This is the time for us to let them know that education is the fundamental soul for national development and must not be compromised whatsoever. It is time to inform our politicians to outshadow the political interest for the national interest. They are the drivers and dictators of the system who have sworn to protect and defend the country.
Mind you, it would be unjust not to point out the unprofessional conduct of the teachers regarding this predicament. It is imperative to note that teachers are the largest contributors to exam malpractice with the fear of losing their credibility when the students fail. Teachers should have known better that when the present generation fails, our future generation will fall but they are the very ones who failed to notice that.
Disappointingly, the credibility of our paper examination has completely gone. We are getting to an era, whether we like it or not, that paper exams alone will prove ineffective in assessing the abilities and intelligence of our young generation. We are killing many talents by just thinking that everybody should do well in paper examinations. The progress of every nation is driven by quality education, and quality education has been the promise of every government that comes into power. We should be mindful that, poor assessment can never guarantee the quality education we are yearning for. This transgression has the propensity to mar the fortunes of our Ghanaian education.
Let me quickly add what I have encountered concerning the statistics of the 2023 NTC exam results that have been displayed on social media. It will interest you to note how one gentleman expressed his opinion in the comment box “The same teachers who are failing are the same teachers teaching these students to get 8As, something is wrong somewhere”. Suspicion has taken center stage, and questions are running through the minds of critical thinkers about how our examinations are conducted. Those who possess the power to circumvent this criminality on the part of the teachers and students must come out with full force to redeem the image of our paper exams. If they pretend not to be aware of this precarious situation, then I am standing here to sound the bell of notice to them that, exam malpractice has been normalized and become a common practice in almost all Ghanaian schools.
Regrettably, this is becoming unbecoming, and we must address this as a matter of urgency and alacrity. We must put measures in place to intensify our exam supervision and if that is difficult to attain then the intelligence and ability of the students should not be measured on how well he or she passes the examination when, indeed, the integrity and credibility of the examination are being compromised.
Abu Hafiz JT
Trained Teacher and political activist
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