Students may perform poorly in WASSCE because of fear and panic – Psychologist

Clinical psychologist, Mrs Aku Hayfron has asserted that the performance of final year students sitting for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) may be affected due to the coronavirus crisis.

According to her, with senior high schools recording positive cases on campuses, the reports will cause fear and panic amongst students which eventually affects them psychologically.

“The rise in coronaviruses cases will affect the students because they are human. They will be thinking, ‘who else has the virus and when will it get to my turn?’ And that is where the problem lies. I have not been following the annual WASSCE examination results, but generally, as there is fear and panic, the students’ performances will go down,” she said in an interview with GhanaWeb on July 9, 2020.

She, however, urged the students to put in their best and not to have thoughts that the virus will kill them when infected.

“I am praying and hoping that they will do well. I wish them all the best. Another thing the students need to know is that the virus is not killing everybody unless of course, the person has an underlying illness, other than that there are so many people who have survived the virus, and therefore they shouldn’t be so scared,” she said.

Reacting to the death of the KNUST SHS student, she highlighted the need for teachers to help students and not stigmatize them if they have any symptoms of the virus.

“If there is any student with a problem, he or she should be helped early for their lives to be saved. It is not right to stigmatize students or anybody. However, it is important to let the students know again that, there is no need to be scared because when they get scared, it affects their learning abilities and immunity. They need to continue taking precautions, and ensure that that they do all they have been asked to do,” she concluded.