The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says he believes the West African Examination Council (WAEC) can organise exit exams for junior and senior high school students in Ghana.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, the Minister said he expects that WAEC will consider supporting Ghana to independently conduct the examination for final year students while they attend to other countries when they are ready.
Most countries in West Africa that take WAEC examinations have instituted school closures as part of efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
The Council has also suspended all examinations, one of which was originally due to start in April 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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However, with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the desire to ensure that the academic cycle is not overly affected, Ghana is considering holding the exams for its final year students.
“WAEC has already signalled that general examinations are suspended. Specific countries that can put in place interim measures will be given support to take off [with] their examination. We believe that we are able to now do this for our final year students. My expectation at this stage is that ours will be on a standalone matter while for the other countries, they [WAEC] proceed to attend to them as and when they are ready to do something similar,” he said.
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The President, Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday, May 31, 2020, in announcing the first phase of eased COVID-19 restrictions said schools are to be reopened solely for final year students.
“From Monday, 15th June 2020, the decision has been taken, after engagement with the Teacher Unions, whose co-operation I salute, to reopen schools and universities to allow for final-year junior high, senior high and university students to resume classes ahead of the conduct of their respective exit examinations. Indeed, final year university students are to report to their universities on 15th June; final year SHS 3 students, together with SHS 2 Gold Track students, on 22nd June; and final-year JHS 3 students on 29th June”, Nana Akufo-Addo announced.
JHS 3 classes will comprise a maximum of 30 students and SHS classes, a maximum of 25 students as part of the new measures.
The school had been closed since 15th March 2020.
If the WAEC exams are held successfully for Ghana, current JHS 3 and SHS 3 students will now be able to move to a secondary and tertiary institution respectively.
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