Private Schools Demand Elimination of WAEC

The Ghana National Council for Private Schools (GNACOPS) has demanded the scrapping of the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC), noting the body has lost its relevance.

The examination organization, according to the council, has outlived its usefulness and has done little to further Ghana’s educational system.

Recent WAEC findings in the current West African Senior Schools Certificate Examination reflect this (WASSCE) cited private schools for their notoriety in breaking the body’s examination rules.

Reacting to this, the National Executive Director of GNACOPS, Obengfo Enoch Kwesi Gyetuah, told a local newspaper that he claims that WAEC has failed and that the organization of the examinations must be dismantled.

He noted that his council wants WAEC completely disbanded since they have shown they are completely incapable of carrying out their duties.

Mr. Obengfo pointed out that WAEC ought to have been ready to put technological frameworks in place to resolve the majority of the widespread issues they have been nagging about nonstop.

He claimed that members of the team in charge of overseeing the exams are not allowed to be private school owners or teachers who are connected to these exam centers, refuting the notion that malpractices are widespread in private schools.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, adding his voice to the conversation, has argued that while scrapping the exams body may not necessarily be the solution, there is a need for reforms within the country’s public examination system.

In a Facebook post, he stated that the current “Pass or Perish” system has created an environment of anxiety, stress, desperation, and fraud just to survive the future. Students must pass at all cost or become ‘useless’.

“We can create career pathways for those who do not ‘pass’ WASSCE enough to enter tertiary directly, and encourage post-secondary CBT TVET in market-led trades,” he added.