Wey Gey Hey sweeps WAEC Distinction Awards
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has rewarded three former students of the Wesley Girls’ High School (WEY GEY HEY) for emerging as Overall Best Students in the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The first prize went to Ms Melisa Abena Okyerewaa Amoah, a former Science student of the school, who also emerged the overall best candidate in the General Science programme.
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Nana Adwoa Agyemang Sereboo, a former Business student, received the second prize and was also named the best candidate in the Business programme, while the third prize went to Ms Ewurabena Esiboaba Cudjoe, a former Science student.
They were part of the 346,091 candidates from 987 senior high schools (SHSs) in Ghana who wrote the 2019 WASSCE.
Out of the number, 159 candidates met the criteria for the awards, from which the three winners were selected.
The first prize winner attained a total score of 624.9826; the second prize winner also scored 624.8876, with the third prize winner obtaining 624.4552.
Ms Okyerewaa and Ms Sereboo were second and third, respectively, at the International Excellence Awards, out of over 1.9 million candidates from the five WAEC member countries.
WAEC Endowment Fund
The awards are under the auspices of the WAEC Endowment Fund, which rewards candidates for their outstanding performance in the WASSCE.
Ms Amoah received a cash prize of $800 from the endowment fund and an extra $400 from the WAEC Office in Ghana for being the best candidate in General Science.
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She was also awarded a full scholarship, which covers her tertiary education, and a laptop.
The package for the second prize winner, Ms Sereboo, included $600 from the fund, $400 from WAEC Ghana and a laptop, while Ms Cudjoe received $500 from WAEC Ghana and a laptop.
Ceremony
The awards ceremony, which took place in Accra yesterday, brought together staff and students of about nine SHSs across the country, with friends and family members of the awardees joining them to cheer them up.
It was characterised by cultural dancing, poetry recital and musical interludes.
Some candidates were also rewarded for having the highest scores in the various programmes they offered.
A former student of Achimota School, Master Caleb Smith, was adjudged the best candidate in General Arts; Chief Kwamena Katu, a past student of Mfantsipim School, won the best candidate in the Technical programme, while Ms Antoinette Mensah and Ms Barbara Afenyo, both from Wesley Girls’, were adjudged the best candidates in Home Economics and Visual Arts, respectively.
Commendation
The Head of the WAEC Ghana Office, Mrs Wendy E. Addy-Lamptey, commended the winners for their hard work and brilliant performances in the 2019 WASSCE.
She said there was an improvement in the performance of candidates in all the core subjects in last year’s examination, compared to the previous year.
Giving the breakdown, she said Mathematics recorded the most significant improvement in grades A1 to C6 over that of 2018.
Integrated Science recorded 62.94 per cent passes; English Language improved from 47.79 per cent in 2018 to 49.06 per cent last year, while Social Studies also improved slightly from 73.25 per cent in 2018 to 75.36 per cent in 2019.
Interventions
The Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, said there had been an increase in the number of awardees, compared to last year.
He expressed the hope that there would be further improvement in the performance of candidates in the coming years following the various interventions in the educational sector by the government.
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“Even as we all await WASSCE 2020 to determine any sign of a productive SHS policy, WASSCE 2019 should present a foretaste of possible outcomes, since some of the interventions rolled out by the government were not targeted solely at beneficiaries of the free SHS policy but had implications for all students,” Prof. Yankah added, and congratulated the winners on their outstanding achievements.