The Executive Director of the Educate Africa Institute (EAI), Mr William Boadi, has dismissed suggestions that the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) period should be extended.
He posited that the proposal is unnecessary and lacks the substance required to bring about any significant improvement to the current system.
Speaking in an interview on Rainbow Radio’s Nyankonton Mu Nsem, he described the recommendation as “much ado about nothing.”
His comments come in response to various stakeholders within the education sector who have labelled the BECE as unfair and excessively stressful for candidates.
These individuals argue that the existing format places undue pressure on students by requiring them to sit for numerous subjects within a very limited timeframe.
Others have also advocated for the examination period to be extended beyond a single week to better accommodate the candidates.
However, Mr Boadi maintains that such an extension would have no meaningful impact on the candidates or the integrity of the process. Regarding the matter, he stated: “Those who make such arguments have expressed their views, but I also have a different opinion. We are talking about exams. Exam time is different from time for teaching and learning. So, if you say we should give them two weeks to write the exams, what were the candidates doing all this while from kindergarten to Junior High School?
They had the opportunity to prepare throughout these periods, and just a week is being used to test them. They have learned, so what is the argument about? Even if we give them a month to sit for the exams, it will not make any significant changes and it will not be meaningful because they have gone through teaching and learning, and it is expected that they would be prepared for the period.”
Rather than adjusting the examination timetable, Mr Boadi suggested that the focus should shift toward the necessity of examinations for every student.
He argued that while not every student will pass their exams, a lack of academic success does not equate to a lack of intelligence.
He believes the priority should be identifying the unique potential of each student and preparing them according to their specific areas of interest.
Furthermore, he raised concerns regarding the systemic disparities within the sector.
He highlighted the inequity of the current setup, where candidates who have studied ICT without ever seeing a physical computer are expected to sit the same examination as those with full access to digital devices.
Emphasising this lack of fairness, he remarked that there is no true equity in the system, asserting that Ghana does not currently operate a genuine education system but rather an “exam-setting system.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana