Dr. Benette Yaw Osei, a lecturer at Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) Mampong, has described exam malpractice in Ghana’s education system as a calculated and deeply entrenched problem, far beyond simple misconduct.
In an interview with Kojo Marfo on AbusuaNkommo, Dr. Osei dismissed claims made by former Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, who attributed widespread failure in the recent WASSCE exams to the government’s failure to pay certain allowances to teachers.
Dr. Osei argued, “If teachers knew in advance that some allowances would not be paid at the time of the exams, blaming the absence of those payments now is unreasonable. Even at the tertiary level, we experienced unpaid allowances, yet the issues persisted.”
He challenged the notion that the exam questions this year differed from previous years, stating, “The questions were not different. This points to ongoing malpractice as the real cause of the concerning results.”
Regarding the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) assertion that the WASSCE results truly reflect student performance, Dr. Osei concurred but added that the situation is complicated.
“GES officials are aware of these challenges. Some have even faced physical threats during exam supervision. When invigilators attempt to enforce strict rules, they face hostility from students,” he stated.
Dr. Osei further revealed that exam malpractice often involves coordination among teachers, school administrators, and even invigilators.
“There are teachers who go for the leak exam questions, others who prepare answers beforehand, and some who pass these solved papers to students. The invigilators themselves are sometimes complicit,” he said.
Illustrating the extent of the problem, Dr. Osei recounted how a student told their parent that exam invigilators expect a bribe of 10 cedis per exam session in exchange for allowing cheating.
“The sad thing is that, unfortunately, I decided not to mention the school’s name. Before the exams, a student told their mother that they should be given money. The reason the student gave was that for every exam they wrote, they had to give 10 cedis each to the invigilators so the invigilators would allow them to cheat,” he recounted.
He called for honest national reflection, emphasizing, “We should stop celebrating pass rates that do not represent true student ability. Students themselves recognize this disparity and many who enter the security services, despite good grades, cannot defend their results if pushed to tertiary institutions.”
Source: www.Kumasimail.com
