The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the provisional results of the first cohort of Free Senior High School candidates who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Ghana, saying that it is one of the best results in the country in recent times.
A statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said the release of the results follows the completion of all post-examination processes.
The provisional results indicate that there were improvements in the performance of candidates at Grades A1 to C6 in English Language and Mathematics (Core) in 2020, as compared to 2019.
The latest results saw an increase of pass from 48.96 per cent in 2019 to 57.34 per cent in 2020 for English Language, with Mathematics (core) also seeing a better performance from 65.31 per cent in 2019 to 65.71 per cent in 2020.
However, this was not the same for Integrated Science and Social Studies, which somehow recorded a decline in the performance of candidates at Grades A1 to C6 in 2020 as compared to 2019. Integrated Science saw a further decline in pass from 63.17 per cent in 2019 to 52.3 per cent in 2020 whereas Social Studies had a pass of 75.43 per cent in 2019 but 64.31 per cent in 2020.
WAEC explained that the results of the candidates would be dispatched to their schools, and advised the candidates to contact the heads of school for them.
Malpractice
Meanwhile, WAEC has disclosed that the subject results of 2,383 candidates have been cancelled for engaging in collusion, bringing foreign materials to the examination hall and tearing part of their question papers to solicit assistance. The entire results of 480 candidates have been cancelled for bringing mobile phones to the examination hall.
Again, according to WAEC, the entire results of 384 candidates have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into various cases of examination malpractices detected during and after the conduct of the examination.
In the meantime, scripts of candidates from 122 schools in certain subjects are undergoing scrutiny, the statement added. It said the withheld results of candidates may be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations.
Alert
In the meantime, WAEC has hosted the results online and candidates who so desire may access their results at the Council’s website – www.waecgh.org.
It also cautioned all stakeholders, especially candidates, to be mindful of fake results websites and the activities of fraudsters who promise to upgrade results for a fee.
“Candidates are to note that all WAEC results are secured and can be authenticated. Institutions are therefore urged to always verify results presented to them to expose incidents of forgery,” it added.
Statistics
The statistics released by WAEC indicate a total of 375,763 candidates from 976 schools entered for the examination, showing a percentage increase of 8.6.
The 2020 entry figure was made up of 187,581 (49.9 per cent) males and 188,182 (50.1 per cent) females.
A total of 3,343 (0.89 per cent) of the candidates who registered were absent from the examination.
Not surprising
In a related development, the Ghana Education Service, in a document titled “Data speaks: Comparative analysis of WASSCE results – 2015-2020”, says it is not surprised at the results because the government was bent on making the Free SHS programme work, in spite of all the teething challenges.
“Perhaps to better appreciate the data and the performance of the cohort that has become popularly known as ‘Akufo-Addo graduates’, it is important to appreciate that contrary to the imposition of a cut-off for BECE candidates aspiring to enter public senior high schools, the Akufo-Addo government, as part of its Free SHS policy, removed the cut-off, and only decided not to place candidates who obtained a 9 in English or Mathematics at the BECE,” the report stated.
“To this end, government put in place a number of interventions, top most of which is the Free Senior High School policy that provided the peace of mind for students to study and focus. The policy also included other impactful interventions including the supply of free core textbooks to every student, free uniforms, meals for both day and boarding students, training for Science and Mathematics tutors, core subject teacher training, provision of Chief Examiners reports to teachers, academic interventions for all students and support for low-performing schools, among others. From the evidence, it appears government’s position and forward looking policy of Free SHS has clearly been vindicated,” it added.
Source: eveningmailgh.com
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