An educational technology consultant and an examiner, Ernest Ato Bentil, has revealed an emerging trend observed during the marking of examinations.
He said some candidates insert love notes and phone numbers into their answer booklets in place of actual answers.
The revelation comes at a time when Ghana is reflecting on the mixed performances recorded in the recently released WASSCE results which many have described it as abysmal.
Speaking in an interview with Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa Morning Show, Mr. Bentsil, who is also the CEO of Jnycafey Training Consult, described the practice as worrying and a symptom of deeper problems within the country’s educational structure.
“As an examiner, sometimes you will open the answer booklet and realize the candidate did not write anything. There was a time I opened the booklet of a female candidate and saw a note; she had written, ‘I’m a beautiful girl’ and had added her phone number to it.
Such a student is expecting the examiner to call her for some form of negotiation but the laws of WAEC do not allow that. It means that student, for example, did not learn anything for the exam but she has been in the classroom since infancy.” He indicated.
Mr. Bentsil attributed the behaviour to weak academic foundations built during the early years of schooling.
“The challenge we are having in our education system currently is the foundation of the students. We must strengthen the base of our education system. Most of our students suffer in the Junior High School (JHS) levels because their foundation in the upper primary level was weak.
Most of the topics in the JHS curriculum begin from the upper primary. In the JHS level they only top them up, so if a child is unable to secure a good foundation in the primary level, which takes about six years, they cannot catch up in the Junior High School level which is about only three years.” He added.
His comments add to growing calls for renewed focus on literacy and numeracy at the primary level, especially as the nation debates performance gaps in the latest WASSCE results.
Source: 3news.com By Eric Nana Gyetuah
