The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has banned five Senior High Schools (SHSs) from registering students for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year because they charged fees that were not authorized.
The affected schools are Olistar Senior High/Technical School, Abesim; Gateway SHS and Lawrence SHS, both in Sunyani; First Class SHS, Achimota, Accra and Martin Luther SHS, Kintampo.
A statement for the Head of Public Affairs Unit at WAEC Ghana, Madam Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said the affected schools “commercialised the registration process,” putting out banners and charging prospective candidates between GH¢1, 200 and GH¢6,750, with the promise of good grades instead of the approved fee of GH¢381.24
“The approved fee was for seven or eight subjects, excluding practical or oral tests which ranged between GH¢14.50 and GH¢19.50,” it said.
The statement added that the registration login codes of the affected schools had been suspended, pending further investigation and additional sanctions for the illegal practice.
The statement warned schools against registering candidates who were not their legitimate final-year students, former WASSCE candidates, or students who did not have continuous assessment records, noting that registration for this year’s WASSCE, which opened Wednesday, would end on Wednesday, April 19th 2023.
“We have received intelligence reports of some students in public schools who move from their schools to private schools to register for the examination because of assurances of obtaining good grades,” the statement added.
It said sanctions for such offences included suspension of such schools for not less than one year and withholding of entire results of non-school or unqualified candidates.
It noted that Ghanaian candidates, would for the second time, write the WASSCE alone from July 31st to September 26th 2023, due to the inability of the country to revert to the old academic calendar which was disrupted by COVID-19.
“As part of measures to ensure test security, the WAEC had enhanced inspection of schools that had applied for accreditation to present candidates, and would take action against regular schools which were operating as remedial schools to demand higher fees and assist in cheating,” she noted.
The statement said that the guidelines for handling instances of irregularity in the council’s exams had been updated to include fines for posting real-time questions online, misbehaving during examinations, and refusing to provide inspectors timely access to the school’s premises.
Grace Acheampong, ISD
I want Ghana Wassce questions for 2023 please