Students and a parent question how far WASSCE results should decide university futures

Pinned summary · as of 20:42

Former candidates, a parent and an educationist have raised doubts about how heavily Ghana's senior high school exam shapes access to university, Starr FM reported. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) answered that experts vet the questions and that the paper gives everyone the same yardstick.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Starr FM reported that Efua Doe, who works at a drugstore in Alajo, Accra, once hoped to study maternal healthcare nursing at university. She said her rural senior high school lacked learning materials, buildings and enough teachers.
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  According to Starr FM, Ms Doe wrote the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2015, and her grades in mathematics and science closed the door to university at that stage.
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  Ms Doe said extra spending on remedial lessons, study materials and transport during repeated resits became more than she could afford, and that setbacks can make people doubt their potential. She called for chances for those prepared to work, saying one failed exam should not settle what a person can achieve.
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  Starr FM described WASSCE as the main exam taken at the end of senior high school, with results that can decide whether a student enters university and what they read. It reported that the exam makes up 70% of the final score, with school-based assessment supplying the rest, and that universities rely on the results for admission and programme eligibility.
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  University of Ghana student Salamatu Umar, aged 19 and in her second year, told Starr FM she felt heavy stress before opening her results, since her parents had declined in advance to pay for a resit.
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  Ceron John Kwegyir-Aggrey, aged 18 and also in his second year, said he fell one mark short of the business administration cut-off and now reads psychology. He suggested admissions bodies should consider the applicant beyond grades, and said exam pressure pushes students to study only for the paper and then forget the material.
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  Educationist Anis Haffar told Starr FM that the real issue is what the system trains students to prize, and argued they need more opportunities to apply what they know and think for themselves. He floated giving school-based assessment and the national exam equal weight, provided safeguards keep school grades consistent and credible across schools.
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  Parent Ruwaida Kwegyir-Aggrey said she does not regard the process as fair, and believes a pupil's years of school performance should count for something real next to the final exam.
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  John Kapi, head of public affairs at WAEC, said specialists screen the paper for clarity and quality, and that the exam provides a shared standard. He acknowledged that some may doubt whether a single sitting is the best test of readiness for tertiary study, but said many who came through it have done well there.
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  Starr FM said it contacted the University of Ghana and other institutions about the exam's role in admissions and received no response.

Why it matters for Ghana

WASSCE results influence which course a young person can follow and whether university is open to them, so the weighting of the exam matters to students and families in every region. Costs such as resits, remedial classes and transport fall on households, and the debate raises the question of whether school-based assessment should carry more weight. Universities and examiners have so far set out different positions on the fairness of the system.