A Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament Dr. Clement Apaak says he would not be fair to himself if he express shock at the latest expose by Corruption Watch over widespread corruption in the organization of the West African Senior Certificate Examination.
Dr. Apaak said he was not surprised that the investigation exposed the scheming ways of headteachers, teachers and invigilators during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) as well as Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
His reason was that he had taken a personal interest in WAEC’s organization of the exams and its associated issues.
He described the issue as unfortunate saying, ”it is evident that the corruption in the exams is well organised, institutionalised, with a corrupt system in place comprising several participants”.
”I am not surprised, but what worries me is the laxity and sometimes blatant refusal by the very institutions, who ought to be leading the charge for us to address this challenge”.
In his view, WAEC has tended to be defensive when these matters come up instead of addressing the challenge.
He is demanding answers and evidence to show whether people have been punished sufficiently in any related examination leakages and malpractice.
”Rather, WAEC will turn around and create doubt and even threaten the institutions, individuals and think tanks courtesy of whose hard work these things come to our attention. WAEC cannot be exonerated.”
He added that per how the system works, the Ministry of Education, is involved, WARC is involved, Police Service is involved in the process.
He said the corruption watch expose, is only the tip of the iceberg since there are several schools involved in the corruption recorded in the organization of our exams.
He posited that the government has also been defensive even in the face of strong evidence of corruption in the organisation of our exams.
For this reason, he called a probe into the organisation of our exams dating back from 10 years ago for the country to examine the trends and threats.
Also, he is proposing a stakeholder dialogue for us to discuss the issues so we can propose far-reaching sanctions and if that requires changing the current arrangement and breaking the monopoly held by WAEC.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
