JUST IN: Government has no Gh¢98m Contract with Chinese Firm to mark BECE Papers – MoE

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has objected to a publication alleging that the government has contracted a Chinese firm to mark the Scripts of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC)  about a week ago.

In a statement released by the Head of the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Ekow Vincent Assafuah, dated June 13, 2018, the Education Ministry rejected claims by a news website www. News7pm.com which suggests that Ghana’s Minister for Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh says its outfit has paid a Chinese firm Huaseng Maiteng $98 million to mark the papers of he just ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

According to the publication, the Minister said the company was among 36 others, including 35 from Ghana who expressed interest in this job.

The Publication further indicated that the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia at a different Press Conference at the Jubilee House said “the decision to allow a Chinese firm to mark the BECE papers is in its right direction”.

The publication further indicated that according to the Vice President, the money involved is huge because the company has to translate the questions and answers to Chinese, mark them and re-translate them into English.

But the Education Ministry emphasized that all claims by the said website were false. The Ministry questioned why it was only that particular website that took a story at the supposed press conference.

The Ministry indicated that its outfit has no intention to take over the work of the West African Examinations Council and as such the general public should consider such reportage as fake.