Examination malpractice in WASSCE not due to Free SHS – SHSs Heads

Some heads of Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the country have admitted that examination malpractice, specifically connivance between teachers and invigilators to allow candidates to cheat during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), has worsened in recent years, but the worsening situation cannot be attributed to the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy.

The heads of the senior high schools, who spoke with the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, revealed that the malpractice is mainly fueled by access to mobile phones by SHS students, poor supervision by the West African Examinations Council, a non-deterrent sanctions regime for persons caught facilitating the malpractice and an inheritance of a cheating culture from the Junior High School level.

“Yesterday, I spoke to 13 SHS heads from 8 regions. They are people I know personally from UCC and have integrity. I sought to find out about the exam room collusion situation in SHS before 2018, when Eduwatch did not even exist. Our monitoring started in 2020.

I learnt the following:

Some heads of Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the country have admitted that examination malpractice, specifically connivance between teachers and invigilators to allow candidates to cheat during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), has worsened in recent years, but the worsening situation cannot be attributed to the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy.

The heads of the senior high schools, who spoke with the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, revealed that the malpractice is mainly fueled by access to mobile phones by SHS students, poor supervision by the West African Examinations Council, a non-deterrent sanctions regime for persons caught facilitating the malpractice and an inheritance of a cheating culture from the Junior High School level.

Ezoic

“Yesterday, I spoke to 13 SHS heads from 8 regions. They are people I know personally from UCC and have integrity. I sought to find out about the exam room collusion situation in SHS before 2018, when Eduwatch did not even exist. Our monitoring started in 2020.

I learnt the following:

Just like Galamsay, exam room collusion did not start now. Ten years ago, WAEC experimented with moving teachers from their schools to supervise in other schools. This was obviously because of the issues of collusion then.

Exam room collusion has, however, escalated to dizzy heights in recent times, as alluded to by WAEC. It’s virtually out of control, especially in lower-category schools.

The drivers:

Mobile phone proliferation in SHS

Profit to the wicked teachers

Lack of prosecution by law enforcement

Weak sanctions by GES weak supervision by WAEC

WASSCE league table/rankings

Cheating culture inherited from JHS

The escalation has nothing to do with the fact that there is a free SHS policy,” Kofi Asare stated in a social media post.

The revelation effectively supports claims by some persons, including former President John Mahama that the improved pass rate in the WASSCE is as a result of cheating during the taking of the WASSCE.

Conversely, it refutes allegations that the free Senior High School is the reason for the worsening situation of examination malpractice in Ghana’s senior high schools