This is because the students, who will be sitting for the 2018 WASSCE examinations will spend only seven weeks in school instead of the full 14 weeks.

A GES memo, sighted by Citi News, thus directed all Regional Directors of Education that “final year students should pay one half or fifty percent of the fees for the third term.”

“It is expected that the Regional Directors should ensure strict compliance of this directive,” the memo added.

Schools are set to re-open for the third term on April 16, and will vacate on July 20, 2018.

The final year students are expected to be in school up till June 1.

The memo added that adjustments could be made if students are made to stay through the Easter vacation.

“In the instance where the final year students will be asked to stay in school during the current holidays or will re-open on 16^th April 2018, the fees should be adjusted to reflect the number of weeks they will be spending in school.”

WAEC moves WASSCE to April to aid students’ preparations

The West African Examination Council, WAEC, announced in February that final year SHS students will henceforth write the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) in April.

Head of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Rev. Samuel Ollennu, said the move will guarantee that the nine terms allocated to teaching and learning in second cycle schools are fully exhausted by students before the examination.

“We are here to sanitize you about the forthcoming examination, which this time around is not starting February but on April 3. Formerly, we were going to start in February but the government appealed to us not to”, he said.

In November 2017, the Minister of Education announced the proposal, citing that students need adequate time for preparation, and after consultation with the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the date was reviewed.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Speaking to Citi News, Felix Essah said the decision will benefit students because it will give teachers enough time to complete the syllabus.

[contextly_sidebar id=”IHDkcEot2UjGgThHZqVXF8T7b6Xjml9l”]“When the Minister of Education decided that he wants to listen to public concern and bring the examination to the third term, I thought it was a good idea. It is a laudable thing, and I commend the Minister for that,” he said.

According to him, many school heads have also complained about not having enough time to complete their syllabus, and that the decision of moving the date forward will go a long way to help both teachers and students.

Head of the West African Examination Council, Rev. Samuel Ollennu, on Tuesday announced the change in time for the exams to April 3rd, following months of deliberation with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders.

“We are here to inform you about the forthcoming examination, which this time around is not starting n February, but on April 3. Formerly, we were going to start in February but the government appealed to us not to”, he said.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post WAEC commended for moving WASSCE from February to April appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking today [Tuesday] at a seminar for journalists, Head of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Rev. Samuel Ollennu said the move will guarantee that the nine terms allocated to teaching and learning in second cycle schools are fully exhausted by students before the examination.

“We are here to sanitize you about the forthcoming examination, which this time around is not starting February but on April 3. Formerly, we were going to start in February but the government appealed to us not to”, he said.

In November last year, the Minister of Education announced the proposal, citing that students need adequate time for preparation, and after consultation with the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the date was reviewed.

The Ministry of Education was in talks with the West African Examination Council last year November (WAEC), to ensure that from 2018, the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) would be written in May.

Successive governments have considered various ways to aid the preparations of candidates for their final exams, including toying with the SHS duration.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s government changed the three year SHS duration system in 2007 to four years, due to similar concerns being raised by Opoku Prempeh.

But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reversed it back to three years, claiming the four-year duration brought undue hardships to parents.

It appears the Akufo-Addo government is seriously considering extending the length to four years again.

The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour in September 2017 revealed that government is monitoring the three-year SHS system to inform a possible review back to four years.

“The time lost, we have to make it up. That is the first thing that we are trying to do now, and based on that, we can now use the analysis that they do after that time, to see what the public thinks and to decide on whether we move for three years or four years,” he added.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Ministry of Education met with the West African Examination Council (WAEC) last year, to initiate processes to move the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from February to May.

This move, the Ministry said, is to guarantee that the nine terms allocated to teaching and learning in Senior High Schools (SHS) are fully exhausted by students as required by the syllabus.

WAEC has also delayed 2018’s exams by a month to give candidates more time to prepare.

This delay will also take effect in the four other English-speaking West African countries; Gambia, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, who take part in the examination.

Speaking to Citi News, Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum confirmed the date changes, stating that it was done in the best interests of the students.

“I want to assure you that, at least we have about a month, our exams are not going to begin in February, so it will be delayed and moved back, the last testing day will be June 1^st, which has never happened for many years,” he said.

The Minister of Education who spoke at the Meet-The-Press series on November 30, 2017 said the change is expected to improve results for final year students since they would have adequate time to prepare.

Politics of 3/4 year SHS duration

Successive governments have toyed with the duration of second-cycle schooling in Ghana.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s government changed the three-year SHS  system in 2007 to four years, due to concerns that candidates were not given enough time to complete their syllabus before sitting for the exams.

But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reversed the decision when they regained power, claiming the four-year duration brought undue hardships to parents.

It, however, appears the Akufo-Addo government is seriously considering re-extending the term to four years.

The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour in September 2017 revealed that government is monitoring the three-year SHS system to inform a possible review back to four years.

“The time lost, we have to make it up. That is the first thing that we are trying to do now, and based on that, we can now use the analysis that they do after that time, to see what the public thinks and to decide on whether we move for three years or four years,” he added.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post WAEC moves WASSCE to May to aid candidates’ preparations appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This is to ensure that the full nine terms of teaching and learning are fully exhausted by students as required by the syllabus.

Speaking at the Meet-The-Press series today [Thursday], the Minister for Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, said the change is expected to improve results for final year students since they would have adequate time to prepare.

[contextly_sidebar id=”TeQk8XoL5lwo6MNfgJfgljHneeYaDkiT”]“The SHS syllabus is for nine terms, three terms in a year, so we envisage that by the time the child has finished the nine terms, he or she would be ready to take the West African Senior School Certification Examination. The West African Senior School Certification Examination starts in February, which is the second term, and finishes just the first week in the third term, so it means that the whole of the second term they lost teaching and learning to exams and they never had any teaching and learning for the third term. Meaning that three terms out of the nine wasted, so it was six terms they were using for a syllabus that said nine terms. No wonder the results were poor.”

The Minister also noted that, his outfit has met WAEC over the issue, adding that “we’ve agreed with the West African Examination Council that we don’t want to start the exams in February…so this year we hope that the WAEC will start the exams sometime in May…so that we would have covered the nine terms before the students start exams.”

Politics of 3/4 year SHS duration

Successive governments have toyed with the duration of Senior High School in Ghana.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s government changed the three year SHS duration system in 2007 to four years, due to similar concerns being raised by Opoku Prempeh.

But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reversed it back to three years, claiming the four-year duration brought undue hardships to parents.

It appears the Akufo-Addo government is seriously considering extending the length to four years again.

The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour in September 2017 revealed that, government is monitoring the three-year SHS system to inform a possible review back to four years.

“The time lost, we have to make it up. That is the first thing that we are trying to do now, and based on that, we can now use the analysis that they do after that time, to see what the public thinks and to decide on whether we move for three years or four years,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & AJ Akuoko Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t pushes for WASSCE in May instead of February appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The results of 1,873 candidates, alleged to have been involved in various examination malpractices, have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into the cases.

This was in a statement signed by Reverend Victor Brew, the acting Director, on behalf of the Head of the National Office of WAEC, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday.

It said the withheld results would be released as soon as the Council concludes its investigations.

The statement said candidates may access their results online at www.waecgh.org.

It alerted members of the public to be wary of the activities of fraudsters who would contact candidates with the promise of bettering their results for a fee payable through mobile money transfers.

The statement assured the public that the Council’s results database was well secured, and as such, all forged results could be detected by the confirmation or verification system.

“Institutions and organisations are advised to confirm or verify results presented to them directly from the Council or access the confirmation or verification service online at the WAEC website.

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Source: GNA

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According to WAEC, this year’s figures show a slight improvement of last year’s results.

[contextly_sidebar id=”soYUqRgS7WQmTzSWWcXDSKkzYZBHvAIa”]The Council in a statement on Wednesday and signed by Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, said while it is working at dispatching the results to various schools students could also access their results online via the WAEC website.

WAEC said for English Language, 155,077, representing 54.06% obtained between A1 and C6 while 73,409 (25.59%) had between D7 and E8 while 58, 351, representing 20.35%, had F9.

For Mathematics WAEC stated that 122,450 (42.73%) had A1-C6 while 106, 024 (37%) had D7-E8 and a total of 58,070 (20.27%) had F9.

In Integrated Science, 125,204 (43.66%) passed (A1-C6) while 84851 (29.59%) obtained D7-E8.

About 26.75%, translating to 76,693 failed (F9) in Integrated Science.

According to WAEC, 67,078 failed in Social Studies while 149, 806 passed (A1-C6). 69,795 obtained between D7 and E8.

WAEC further noted that the entire results of candidates from 185 schools have been withheld, pending conclusion of investigations into malpractices detected during and after the examinations.

“Results of candidates from 31 out of the 185 schools were detected with the Item Differentia profile (IDP) software, which showed cheating in the objective tests,” the statement added.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the Council, it is prepared to apply the WAEC laws if anyone is implicated in the leaking of any examination papers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mKKkDwqPfJKxhFgQK0F3D3jjZsQbtHQA”]The 2017 WASSCE is currently underway with a total of 289,207 final-year public and private Senior High School (SHS) candidates sitting.

The WASSCE has been no stranger to exams leaks with papers; including Physics Practical, Oral English, Integrated Science and Social Studies leaking to the public in 2016 leading to their cancellation.

Speaking to Citi News, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, indicated some regulations WAEC had introduced, noting that, “supervisors and invigilators are not supposed to send mobile phones to the examination hall because we all know what mobile phones can be used for.”

“We also have security details on the supervisor’s bags and we also have combination padlocks on them so that people cannot easily open these bags,” she added.

Agnes Teye-Cudjoe further warned that, anyone found culpable of any exam leaks will be prosecuted.

“We have the WAEC law in place so if anybody is found culpable, the law will take over and the person will be prosecuted. If any member of staff is found culpable, we have sanctions that can be taken against the person.”

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonlie.com/Ghana

The post WAEC confident 2017 WASSCE won’t leak appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A statement issued on Wednesday said the consequences of examination malpractices were serious, including cancellation of results and prosecution.

According to the statement the Ministry is encouraging each of the students to raise their spirit, remain strong and do their best during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

“This is the crowning moment of your Senior High School education and we trust that you have applied yourselves diligently to studies, have used your time judiciously and ready for the exams,” Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education said.

Dr Prempeh said they had confidence that supervisors, invigilators and inspectors would discharge their duties professionally by conducting themselves in accordance with the rules and regulations of the examinations.

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Source: GNA

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The students, who were left stranded after the incident, were asked to go for some clothes and other materials they might need.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LTG5LL1Mp9twfUHYSmtyDW6vPpt34V7W”]Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer for the Ghana Education Services, Rev. Jonathan Bettey said, the service is helping the school to deal with the issue.

According to him, measures have been put in place to transform some classrooms into dormitories to accommodate the students till new facilities are built.

“The management of Ghana Education Service is aware of the disaster in that school so the regional and district director took a decision of giving hundred mattresses to reduce the burden on the children and their parents. First and second year students were asked to go home, prepare and come. We are expecting that on Monday or Tuesday many of them would be in school. Provisions have also been made to convert some classrooms into dormitory for final year students to occupy,” he added.

Rev. Bettey further noted that the West African Examination Council has been briefed on the development and has been urged to review its examination timetable to favour students of the school.

“We are aware of their examination. The West African Examination has also briefed them on what happened in the school so we are expecting them to reorganize their timetable to fit the emergency of that situation,” the GES PRO added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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