Those analysing results politically don’t know what they’re talking about – Africa Education Watch

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released provisional results of candidates who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates in 2020 in Ghana last week.

The results which are said to be one of the best in Ghana in recent times saw students recording a marginal improvement in their performances in the Core Mathematics paper.

Many have applauded this improvement with some political actors attributing this success to the introduction of the free Senior High School policy.

Executive Director of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare has however advised political actors to stop trying to politicize the comparison of election results because it defeats the purpose of the exercise.

According to him, the comparison of WASSCE results over the years has been done to inform policy and not to push a political agenda.

“The results are analyzed to improve and inform policies. Policies on teaching and learning are weighed all the time to ensure the educational system keeps growing. The analysis is done for the government to also know how well their policies are friendly and improving the educational sector and nothing more. The comparison and analysis are not done for political purposes. Anyone doing this comparison based on politics does not know what they’re talking about”.

He made this known in an interview with Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show aired on Happy 98.9 FM and e.TV Ghana.

Explaining further, Kofi Asare indicated that external examinations are one of the ways teachers assess the effectiveness of their teaching. “It is a litmus paper to find out if you did well or not. Comparing results is done for educational purposes only”, he reiterated.

The provisional WASSCE 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.

English Language – 48.96% in 2019 to 57.34% in 2020

Mathematics (Core) – 65.31% in 2019 to 65.71% in 2020

On the other hand, Integrated Science and Social Studies recorded a decline in the performance of candidates at Grades A1 to C6 in 2020 as compared to 2019 as follows:

Integrated Science – 63.17% in 2019 to 52.3% in 2020

Social Studies – 75.43% in 2019 to 64.31% in 2020

WAEC explained in the press statement that the results of the candidates will be dispatched to their schools and candidates have therefore been advised to contact their heads of school for their results.