The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has called on the West African Examination Council (WAEC), to be independent of the Ghana Education Service and its employees.
According to him, employing the services of the teachers and individuals under the service of the GES when conducting examinations contributes to some of the many examination challenges including malpractices like cheating.
Speaking on midday news on Joy FM, Mr Asare explained that WAEC uses the same teachers who taught the students to regulate their examinations and thus, despite efforts by the Ministry of Education to curb malpractices, some supervisors and teachers connive to help their students cheat.
He said, “I know a teacher who was caught on video during one of our documentaries dictating answers to a Management in Living question in a particular school in Bono. That teacher was then a Management in Living teacher. As we speak, he is an assistant headmaster in another school.”
“So when we hear of instances where some teachers collect money from students, solve questions for them, put them on WhatsApp platforms, and then they copy in the exam hall, and the same teachers are invigilators, and some of them are supervisors in the same exam hall, you must understand that it is possible because WAEC is only present in about 20% of the centres at a particular time.”
Mr Asare suggested that for WAEC to be truly independent where malpractices are curbed it should implement measures that are in line with international best practices.