The Ghana Education Service (GES), has served notice that going forward, it will dismiss and prosecute any headteacher whose school is found to have engaged in examination malpractices such as exam leakages.
His comments follows the recent leakage of exam papers in the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exams (WASSCE).
The service indicated they would not spare any headmaster in their new drive to curb examination malpractices.
The Basic Education Certificate Exam (BECE) and the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exams (WASSCE) have been plagued with leaks for the over a decade.
In the latest leakage, it emerged last week that some students in the Greater Accra and Eastern Regions had access to the WASSCE examination papers between 12:00am midnight and 4:00a.m on the day the papers were written.
The papers that allegedly leaked included Oral English, Integrated Science paper and Social Studies. There were also pictures on social media showing students copying answers.
Addressing a news conference in Kumasi, the Director-General of the GES, Jacob Kor, promised that the service will do all it can to end the seemingly annual menace.
He sent out a strong warning to headteachers saying, “Should there be any examination malpractice at a centre and its detected, that head will lose his or her position.”
He also noted that the headteachers in question will also face an inquiry after losing their position.
“And that is not all, after losing your position, you will be put before the sahindrin to answer.”
Leaked papers won’t be cancelled
Meanwhile the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has served notice the leaked papers will not be cancelled as has been done in previous years. A statement signed by Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, WAEC’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs said “the papers already written will not be cancelled.
She said the remaining papers would be taken as scheduled and investigations will continue and persons found culpable will be appropriately sanctioned.”
Break WAEC’s monopoly
Some teacher unions like NAGRAT have suggested the scrapping of the WASSCE system so Ghana can hold its own exams supervised by an independent body.
A policy and research Think Tank, VIAM Africa Centre for Education and Social Policy, which has called for heads to roll at WAEC, has also suggested the setting up of an alternative independent exam body which is the case in Nigeria to break WAEC’s monopoly, and ultimately stimulate competition and quality.
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