Bishop condemns examination malpractices
The Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, Rt Rev. Dr Alfred Agyenta, has bemoaned the alarming rate of examination malpractices in the educational system.
He said evidence had shown that there had been a rising incidence of examination malpractices, especially in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), since 2009.
"In a report on the trends in cases recorded in the BECE from 2009 to 2011, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) made the following interesting revelations on the growing incidence of exam malpractices. Five hundred and twenty-five, 1,083 and 1,127 candidates were involved in exam malpractices in 2009, 2010 and in 2011, respectively..
Although he conceded he could not lay hands on the statistics of malpractices recorded in 2012 and 2015, one could imagine that there certainly had been no reduction in the trend, as the incidents of May and July this year testify.
Regions
"An interesting detail in this report was the league table of the cheats by regions that was compiled by the council. At the top was the Brong Ahafo Region while the bottom with the least percentage of fraud was the Upper West Region," Rt Rev. Agyenta said.
The Catholic Bishop made these revelations during the 11 National Delegates Conference of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
The conference, which was on the theme: 'Protecting the Integrity of Examinations, attracted delegates from all over the country and representatives of other sister unions.
The President of NAGRAT, Mr Christian Addai-Poku, said it appeared WAEC had unchallenged powers which were steadily making them inefficient.
"The actions and inaction of WAEC have gone unchallenged over the years and now is the time to raise questions. It appears even the government of Ghana cannot stand up to WAEC."
WAEC arbitrariness
Mr Addai-Poku said malpractices occurred when there was inadequate security and asked why students should be made to travel about 30 kilometres to write the rest of their papers because of malpractices.
"If invigilators are the problem, why won't WAEC change them? If it is about security, why not beef it up? By moving the centre to another place, who bears the extra financial cost incurred by the students?
He said what was even more unnerving was the frequent and mass cancellation of examination results without regret, adding that it was time WAEC was told we were sick and tired of their bullying posturing.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr James Zuuga Tiiga, said the perennial examination leakages was an indictment on stakeholders, especially examination authorities and teachers.
