The Minority in Parliament says the poor organization of the maiden edition of the National Standardized Test for all basic four pupils in public schools across the country has vindicated their stance.
The test is meant to afford the Ghana Education Service the chance to generate reports which will outline the challenges facing the education system across the country in some core subjects.
The exam, which was scheduled for 9:00 am on Friday was fraught with delays. Some heads of schools described the situation as worrying and called on authorities to put measures in place to address all forms of delays going forward.
Speaking to Citi News, a Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Peter Nortsu Kotoe, says the sector Ministry should have heeded the advice of the minority to organize the examination next year.
He maintains the relevant stakeholders would have been better prepared to implement the initiative next year.
“When the Minister announced in the budget that they will carry out a National Standardised Test, we agreed that it was necessary to do so, so we can know how best the curriculum has been utilized.”
“We suggested that since it is something new, let us wait and implement it next year because we foresee a chaotic situation. We felt there was the need for the Ministry to be financially equipped before going into such an assignment. Basically, we support the exercise, but it is the implementation [we have an issue with].”
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwesi Kwarteng, has described the exercise as a smooth one despite the delay in commencement.
“We may not have had a very perfect organization but it was a smooth exercise and students were happy.”
He further assures that all challenges faced during this maiden edition will be resolved in subsequent tests.
The first National Standardised Test for all basic four pupils was hit by delays at a number of centres nationwide.
The initial advertised time for the test was on Friday at 9:00 am for the first paper, but that was rescheduled to 11:00 am.
