Obed Nana Yaw Osei, NUGS Secretary for Press & Information
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has asked the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to review the 2020 West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) timetable.
This, according to the union, is to reduce the stress levels of the students who are writing their exit exams amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“The Union has taken note of the fact that two elective papers, i.e. Financial Accounting and Principles of Cost Accounting, for instance, are scheduled to be written on the same day, September 5, 2020, with only an hour’s break.
“The Union identifies with the position of education advocacy think tank, the Africa Education Watch, that such an arrangement, which makes students sit for two major elective papers for as long as almost seven hours, with only an hour’s break, is ‘strenuous’ and goes against ‘international standards of assessment at the secondary level’,” NUGS said.
In a statement signed by its general secretary, Divine Edem Kwadzodeh, the Union called on WAEC “to review the timetable by postponing one of the two papers to another day, so as to reduce the stress students are already facing in these extraordinary times.”
Goodwill message
NUGS further sent a goodwill message to all the students sitting for this year’s exams, which began on Monday July 20.
“The Union is cognizant of the fact that these are not the best times to be undertaking such an exercise of writing examinations, and wishes to congratulate all our gallant brothers and sisters who are defying the odds to take their final examinations.
“The National Union of Ghana Students will, by this medium, urge all relevant authorities to ensure strict adherence to all the COVID-19 protocols during this period; and will also plead with all students to do their part by observing all the protocols during and after the period of the examinations,” the statement said.
“Once again, the National Union of Ghana Students wishes all final year senior high school students the best of prospects as they take their final examinations,” it added.
A total of 375,737 students are sitting for this year’s WASSCE. The number comprises 187,574 males and 188,163 females.
