Students cannot be part of exam decision-making – WAEC replies NUGS

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has rejected the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) request for immediate reforms to include student representation on essential decision-making committees.

NUGS contended that students are still left out of important bodies like the Ghana Examinations Committee, which makes decisions regarding result cancellations and withholdings, as well as the WAEC Investigative Committee that investigates examination malpractice.

In a statement issued by President Daniel Korley Botchway and General Secretary Bismark Yaw Ofori, the Union labeled the current situation as unjust.

“It is worrying that the Ghana Examination Committee of WAEC, which takes critical decisions such as the cancellation and withholding of results, does not have a single student representative. Even more troubling is the fact that the WAEC Investigative Committee — which probes allegations of malpractice — equally excludes the very constituency most affected by its findings: the students,” the statement read.

WAEC has turned down the request, asserting that it is not feasible to add a student representative to its committees.

In response to the concerns raised, Dr. Rosemond Wilson, the Head of the National Office of WAEC, clarified that issues regarding examination cancellations and investigations into malpractice are already communicated directly to candidates, parents, and teachers.

She emphasized that the existing system effectively involves those most pertinent to the process, rendering the inclusion of NUGS superfluous.

“NUGS are students, and with our exams, invigilators and supervisors are supposed to be workers of the GES. NUGS are not staff of the GES, so they cannot invigilate or supervise our exams. When it comes to investigations, we deal directly with the candidate, and the minor candidates come along with their parents and teachers to do the investigations. So, we do not actually need NUGS. We don’t know the role they want to play concerning the investigations.”

By DeStoryNews