BECE Exams: Serialisation of questions has curbed exams malpractices-Education Minister 

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, says the introduction of the serialisation of questions has addressed the incidence of examination malpractices in the country.The Minister said his directive to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in the past three years to use serialisation, with which they complied, had curbed examination leakages.Dr Adutwum said this in an interview with the media when he visited selected schools to monitor the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination in Accra.Speaking at the Accra College Demonstration Centres A and B, the Minister said the stringent measures put in place to check examination leakages were working perfectly.'If you want to say that you have the questions and you have gotten them leaked to you, you don't know which examination centre has that question, so parents are not buying, students are not interested, and they are focusing on studying,' he said.The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the WAEC, introduced a number of me asures, including, 'serialisation and randomization' of examination questions, to address the reoccurring examination question leakages in the country. Dr Adutwum said they had scaled the initiative up to the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination to sanitise the system from any unhealthy examination practices.'The Ministry will in 2025 look at how to do serialisation within the classroom so that student A, who is seated here, will have different questions from student B, who is seated in the same classroom, he said.The report indicates that in 2014, 82 per cent results of one or more subjects were cancelled by WAEC, and in 2023, 81 per cent of one or more subjects were cancelled.He commended the leadership of the school for making sure that the candidates were well prepared for the examination.Ms Margaret Kaba, the Municipal Director of Education for Ayawaso West, said the 1,345 candidates were sitting, of which 690 were boys and 650 were girls.She said the examination started well and had been smooth and peaceful with the presence of invigilators and the Police.Ms Kaba said so far only three candidates were absent; one candidate travelled, while the other two had no known reasons.The Municipal Director said so far, one pregnant candidate was sitting, and another had given birth three months ago.The Municipality has six centres: Accra College Demonstration Centres A and B, the University Basic School Centre, Legon, and Mary Mother of Good Counsel Catholic School.The rest are the Dzorwulu Junior High School Centre and the Bethany Methodist Basic School Centre.Dr Eric Nkansah, the Director-General, Ghana Education Service, in his goodwill message, wished all the candidates the best of luck.The candidates are the first batch of JHS students who undertook the standards-based curriculum.'As you get into these exams, be confident in yourselves, knowing very well that you have prepared adequately to write them.'It is not going to be any new thing except for things that you have learned over the period, so come prepared and come and demonstrate to us what you have learnt over the period,' he said.He admonished them to eschew all forms of examination malpractice and come out with better results.569,095 candidates are sitting this year's BECE, of whom 282,648 were males and 286,447 were females, with 19,506 schools participating. The figure represents a decrease of 5.29 per cent compared to the 2023 entry figure of 600,900.Source: Ghana News Agency