YAD Calls On WAEC To Return Marked Script To Schools
We celebrate African Youth Day which falls on 1st November, 2015 with our passionate call to WAEC to return marked script to schools.
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has been the sole body overseeing external examinations in both our first and second cycle institutions. These examinations lead to the award of Basic Education Certificate and the West African Senior Secondary Certificate respectively.
In addition, ones movement from one point of the educational ladder to another depends on the success or otherwise of the WAEC test.
Over the years, WAEC as an institution has exercised its mandate as stipulated in the ACT (719-2006) which established it.
However, in recent times the Council has encountered several challenges including the Cancellation of several papers during this year’s BECE.
Basically, examination whether written exercises, oral questions or practical tasks are set to test candidate knowledge and skills in a particular field of study. To us Examinations play several roles and includes the following;
· Helping students to know their strength and weaknesses
· Helping teachers to evaluate their methods of teaching
· Helping curriculum developers or planners to evaluate contents taught
For students and teachers to do personal evaluation on written material and contents taught respectively, it is prudent that both teachers and students lay hands on the assessed content.
For us at Youth Alliance for Development, releasing the grades alone to the students is not enough but what led to the attainment of the grade. We are therefore ceasing this opportunity to call on WAEC to consider returning marked script to Schools for evaluation purposes.
Statistics from the just released WASSCE 2015 results points to the fact that student’s performance was abysmal especially in the three core subjects which are English, Mathematics and Integrated science. Unfortunately these are the subjects that serve as the means into many tertiary institutions. The results Cleary shows that only few students can progress to the next stage of their academic ladder without having to re-sit. The statistics as released by WAEC indicates that 25.29 % of candidates passed in mathematics. That is students getting A1 to C6. Since several institutions won’t accept D7 for admission. 23.63% passed in integrated science (A1-C6) and 50.29 % passed in English.
Our Recommendations
The marked Script of the Students be returned to their Schools before they re-write the papers
It is a fact that, the chief examiner reports on the strengths and weaknesses on the students’ performance which comes out after the exams have not been useful to re-sitters. The report is just a summary of the thousands of essay questions answered. It is so scanty in our view. Teachers in various schools will do more of a comprehensive analysis of their student’s responses when they lay hands on the marked scripts.
We call on WAEC to take a second look at the current situation where the scripts are disposed three months after the release of the results.
We urge the council to remove the fee one has to pay for applying for remarking. We see this as a disincentive for students who may have genuine concern to apply for remarking. To top it all, the process is hectic and delaying.
Finally, we want WAEC to publish the continue assessment marks for each students on their website since students are told such marks are factored into their grades.
It is in our opinion that such a move will help students to adequately prepare for their re-sit and expose them to the principle of Transparency and Accountability. Thank you
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