The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is a standardized test organized by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for final-year students enrolled in secondary schools in Anglophone West African countries. These countries include Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.
The examinations are usually taken from April to May (May/June) every year with results being released by August. There is also WASSCE for private candidates that takes place from January to February (Jan/Feb) and in November through to December (Nov/Dec).
The Covid-19 pandemic which wrecked the world in 2020 pushed member countries of the WAEC to alter the examination calendar from the original May/June to July 20 to September 5, 2020. The examinations were, however, administered from August 16 – September 8 in 2021.
After the surge of COVID-19 subsided, all the other member states of the WAEC have reverted to the erstwhile May/June examination calendar except Ghana, which means that only Ghanaian candidates will take the West African Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year, which is slated from August 1 to September 27, 2022.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, the Head of the Ghana National Office of WAEC, Mrs. Wendy Enyonam Addy-Lamptey explained that due to the new semester structure, candidates were unable to sign up for the exam because the country’s academic year began on February 7, 2022. She clarified that the candidates would not have enough time to complete the WASSCE in May or June given the start of the 2022 academic year.
The Ministry of Education requested that it be held for the candidates in August and September 2022 because “the time was too short and they would not have adequately prepared for the examination.”
She also mentioned that despite the late sitting, candidates from Ghana will still compete against those from other nations for the WAEC Excellence Award and the National Distinction Award which is typically contended for by all candidates in the five member nations.
Mrs. Addy-Lamptey noted that some fraudulent website owners and con artists had already obtained copies of the previous WASSCE 2022 examination questions that had been given in the other member nations and were using those copies to promote their websites. She reiterated that the examination has completely unique questions to those that were taken in the other countries. Although the questions would undoubtedly be of the same level of difficulty, the Head of the National Office of WAEC stated that “all post-examination arrangements will be handled by the international body”.
What Does This Say of Ghana’s Educational System?
Is this decision to organize a “specialized” secondary examination for Ghanaian students in their best interest? Who was responsible for the unpreparedness of the examination candidates to take the exams in May/June? Was it the government, the teachers, or the students?
I believe that the students have been preparing for the examination before the beginning of the academic year on February 7, 2022. Does this mean that the other member countries of the WAEC are a step ahead of Ghana in terms of a proper educational system? Maybe the WASSCE results will tell.