The Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, has charged Ghanaians to uphold integrity in assessment.
That, according to him, was critical in ensuring the credibility of examinations.
“So my simple message is that as Ghanaians, when it comes to assessment, let us uphold integrity,” he said when he delivered a lecture at the 74th Annual Council Meeting of the West
African Examinations Council (WAEC) last Wednesday in Accra.
It was on the topic: “Fostering assessment integrity within a cultural context of credentialism”
Support
Prof. Oduro said integrity was of utmost importance and critical in assessment and that “if we uphold integrity, we would support studying and understanding to avoid malpractices.
Those malpractices, he said, included cheating that undermined examination.
“So, we should all try and place integrity at the centre even as we prepare children for the upcoming May-June examination,” he said.
Prof. Oduro called for support for candidates taking the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates (WASSCE-SC).
He said teachers must teach students to understand context, not just teach them to pass the examination. Again, he said parents must support and encourage them, not wait for a shortcut to pass.
“Because when you compromise to help your child pass, you destroy the child’s future. The child enters university and cannot cope. But if the child understands, he would be able to cope,” he said.
Architecture
Prof. Oduro stressed the need to strengthen examination security infrastructure among WAEC member countries.
“The Ghana Only WASSCE did not help us to harmonise standards across countries. It did not give a benchmark for analysing the results of candidates,” he said.
Therefore, he said, regional collaboration was key.
Attention
Across West Africa and particularly in Ghana, “We pay particular attention to examinations because we see that academic milestones serve as stepping stones for moving forward.
It’s looked at as a rite of passage, where one moves in the education sector from a lower level to a higher level”
He also said it served as a transitional point from student life to employment, and from a non-entity to an entity level.
“In other words, you don’t have a status. But because of assessment, you can be called a doctor, you can be called a professor, you can be called a medical doctor, you can be called whatever,” he said.
Therefore, Prof. Oduro said that the WASSCE was not merely an examination but a social gateway.
“It is there to open paths for you, for your own future,” he said.
Paradox
The paradox, he said, was that the same assessment that facilitated “our mobility, that confirms our merit for upward movement, the same one also creates an intense social pressure for us”.
He said that, because of the value placed on and obsession with assessment, “We see certificates as the only way to move upwards, credentialism becomes critical.”
Credentialism, he said was basically the overemphasis of certificates.
The Chairman of the Council of WAEC, Prof. Thomas Brima Rick Yormah, assured the gathering that, as soon as the final paper was received, the secretariat would study it and refer it to the appropriate quarters for action.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh