As final year Junior High School students across the country have begun writing their BECE, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to consider scrapping the exams since it is limited to placement of students at the Senior High School level.
GNAT wants the Ghana Education Service and other stakeholders to come up with better ways of assessing students since the BECE certificate is not capable of boosting one’s chances of securing a job.
Prosper Takyi, Ashanti regional chairman of GNAT told Citi News that, “there is one thing, as stakeholders, we need to sit down and consider. Moving on, we need to critically look at the entire setup, especially about the conduct of the exams viz -a – viz the relevance of certificates. It seems it is only limited to placing students into SHSs.”
“If that is the case, I think that something better must be done. If the certificate is to guarantee jobs, then we can look at it from a different angle. But the certificate for placement is something that we need to look at”, he added.
GNAT also urged teachers to desist from condoning examination malpractices within the period.
According to the Ashanti regional chairman of GNAT the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) must stop engaging teachers as invigilators during exams to prevent instances where they are accused of indulging in examination malpractices.
Meanwhile, education think tank, Africa Education Watch, says it wants the management of WAEC, to honour its promise of putting stringent measures in place to prevent examination malpractice.
With respect to alleged examination malpractice during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, Kofi Asare said his outfit will use all legal means to ensure that all persons found culpable are dealt with.
A total number of 571, 894 candidates are sitting for the 2021 BECE.
Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, has said “the Council has done everything that needs to be done to ensure that the examination is done successfully to safeguard the integrity of the exam.”