Ghana to write 2022 WASSCE alone

The West African Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which will be administered from August 1 to September 27, 2022, will only accept applications from Ghanaians going forward.

This is due to the fact that the other four West African Examinations Council (WAEC) members, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia, have switched back to the May/June calendar and this year’s WASSCE was administered to students in those countries from May 9 to June 24.

Due to Ghana adhering to the “new normal” calendar brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the academic calendars of the four countries have been shortened to allow them to write the exam in May or June.

Despite the late sitting, applicants from Ghana will still face off against those from other nations for the National Distinction Award and the WAEC Excellence Award.

According to Wendy Enyonam Addy-Lamptey, head of the Ghana National Office of WAEC, “our candidates will still compete for the National Distinction Award and the WAEC Excellence Award, which is typically contended for by all candidates in the five-member nations.”

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, Mrs. Addy-Lamptey revealed that this year, due to the new semester structure, candidates were unable to sign up for the exam because the country’s academic year began on February 7.

She clarified that the candidates would not have enough time to complete the WASSCE in May or June given the start of the 2022 academic year.

“The Ministry of Education requested that it be conducted for them in August and September 2022 since the time was too short and the candidates would not have fully studied for the exam.

The WASSCE for School Candidates will then be written only by Ghanaian candidates, beginning on August 1 and finishing on September 27, she added.

Mrs. Addy-Lamptey noted that fraudulent website owners and con artists had already obtained copies of previous WASSCE 2022 exam questions that had been given in the other member nations and were using those copies to promote their websites.

“Some have demanded that applicants pay a fee to register.

We want to make sure that our citizens are aware that the exam being administered has completely unique questions and parallel questions from the exams given in the other member countries, she emphasized.

Although the questions would undoubtedly be of the same level of difficulty, the Head of the National Office of WAEC stated that “all post-examination arrangements will be handled worldwide.”

She said, “For instance, there will be representatives from the five member countries at the Standard Fixing and Grading Awards meetings.

After the extended closing date of April 8, 2022, 422 883 candidates from 977 schools enrolled for the WASSCE.

72 candidates with visual impairments—39 men and 33 women—as well as 14 candidates with hearing impairments were included in the entry figure.

A total of 60 disciplines, including 56 electives and four core subjects, would be given to potential applicants, according to Mrs. Addy-Lamptey.

She went on to say, “Candidates have the choice to select up to a maximum of four elective topics from the seven programmes offered in senior high schools, in addition to the four core subjects that all candidates write.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com