Concentrate on passing WASSCE instead of Nov/Dec, students advised

Students in the Senior High Schools, especially final year students, have been advised to concentrate on their studies in order to pass their West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) well, instead of nurturing the hope of re-writing as private candidates.

Mr. James Dapaah Asamoah, the Headmaster of Our Lady of Mercy Senior High School (OLAMS), and Mr. Simon Boadu, the Assistant Headmaster in-charge of Academics at Chemu SHS, in Tema, gave the advice in separate interviews with the Ghana News Agency during the English Oral Paper on Monday.

Mr. Asamoah and Mr. Boadu said some students were not serious in the WASSCE, because of the alternative of re-writing as private candidates.

They said some of the students register for the November/December examinations before sitting for the WASSCE and do not put in their best in the main examinations.

They said this and other factors, including too much concentration and promotion of entertainment programmes instead of educational programmes by the media, contribute to the high number of students re-writing their papers.

Mr. Asamoah urged students to see themselves in competition with other students and desist from last minute learning towards examinations since that could put a lot of stress on them.

On the Oral Paper, he said the examination started exactly 0900 hours and ended at 0945 hours without any incident as all the 216 registered students reported for the examination.

He said even though there was echo in the examination hall due to its largeness, the tape was audible enough.

At Chemu SHS, Mr Boadu said 418 students sat for the incident-free examination in two batches with a very audible tape.

He commended the students for their comportment and appealed to them to adhere to all the rules and regulations governing the examination in order to avoid the cancellation of their papers.

A total of 151 students of the Datus SHS also sat for the examination in two batches.

Miss Gladys Sabah Agah, a final year student of OLAMS said, even though the tape was audible “the narrative part was not all that clear because the man’s voice sounded too deep.”**