Mahama blames govt for unruly behaviour of 2020 WASSCE candidates

Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has attributed the unruly behaviour of some current West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) candidates to the decision by the government to buy them past questions.

He said that the WASSCE candidates believed that the past questions bought for them by the government would come during the exams hence their disappointment and the kind of behaviour they put up.

Mr Mahama made this point when he called on the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Mahama Abukari (II) at his palace at Yendi on Friday.

Mr Mahama said during his tenure and under his Minister of Education, Professor Jane Nana Opoku-Agyemang, who is his running mate for the elections, “Ghana saw the best WASSCE results. Ghana saw the best BECE results in our history.”

He explained that “All of us pass O’Level and A’Level. We used to go to West Africa Examinations Council to buy past questions ourselves. Government never gave it to us. And we bought it because you can look at the past questions and they can help you to rehearse towards the exams but when the government goes and buys it and gives it to them, it gives them the idea that these are the questions that are going to come. And they go and sit in the exams hall and those questions they studied for are not in the paper, then this is the kind of thing you will see happening.”

He said “We will come back to government. We will make sure that our children are well prepared and well-taught so that they will go into that exams hall with confidence and not feel that the only way they can pass is to cheat in the examinations.”

He assured Ya-Na that his next government would work for the progress and development of Dagbon.