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A total of 895,685 primary school pupils have taken part in the 2024 edition of the National Standardised Test (NST) across the country.
Out of the number, 542,418 pupils are in primary four, while the remaining 353,267 are in primary six. The NST, which started in 2021, tests the pupils in literacy and numeracy to ascertain their level of understanding and identify their specific weaknesses for the necessary remedial measures and intervention lessons to be put in place to rectify such challenges.
The Director-General (DG) of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Professor Yayra Dzakadzie, led some staff of the NaCCA to tour some of the examination centres at Aburi and Mampong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region, including the School for the Deaf at Mampong-Akuapem.
Briefing the Daily Graphic after the tour at Mampong-Akuapem, he was grateful to all the stakeholders for their respective roles in ensuring a successful and incident-free examination.
Rev. John Ntim Fordjour (in suit), Deputy Minister of Education, at the National Standardised Test Centre at the Flagstaff House Basic School
“We did not record any incident throughout the country. We had adequate materials for the learners to respond to the test, and it was very successful.
“This remarkable success is not chalked by the NaCCA alone; the Ghana Education Service (GES) is also part of it. I want to use this opportunity to thank my colleague, the DG of GES, Dr Eric Nkansah, and his regional and district directors, as well as my deputy DGs for their advice,” Prof. Dzakadzie said.
In particular, Prof. Dzakadzie was grateful to the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, for his mentorship, leadership and direction.
While thanking the teachers, he reminded them that the NST was not meant to certify the learners, saying: “Basically, it meant to know what we have achieved as a country, where we can make progress and where we can provide remediation.”
He said the examination was actually to assess the learners and find out what was there that needed to be done better as a country to improve educational outcomes. For him, the test was a feedback exercise to make instructional management decisions to move the educational sector forward.
Addressing the media after touring some examination centres in Accra, the Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, explained that the test was not to identify which school was the best but to gather data on the performance of primary school pupils in literacy and numeracy.
He stated that the data collected after the NST would help in determining which schools, districts and regions needed support most so the teachers could be offered the requisite training to help improve their performances.
The NST centres the minister visited included the Flagstaff House Basic School. He recounted the government's efforts to improve learning outcomes in schools across the country through the introduction of various interventions.
The Deputy Minister commended teachers in the country for their dedication and commitment towards improving the development of education in the country.
He was also full of praise for all stakeholders who played various roles to complement the government’s drive towards the transformation of the nation’s economy through education development.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour said, “In 2015, when the pupils were tested in Early Grade in Basic Two learners across the country, only two per cent of our pupils were able to read at that grade level”.
“It is based on this that the Ministry of Education, through the instrumentality of the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, introduced various interventions such as play-based pedagogies among early child learners and Phonics-based approaches, leading to improved learning outcomes,” he said.
The Deputy Minister revealed that those efforts paid off in 2023, as it recorded a 38 per cent improvement in primary two reading skills while primary four also increased to 54 per cent in proficiency.
Rev. Fordjour was upbeat that with the numerous interventions, coupled with the provision of adequate teaching and learning resources, this year’s results might increase as a lot of work was being done to attain at least 90 per cent proficiency among all pupils across the country soon.
The Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Stephen Abamfo, assured the Minister of the prudent measures that had been put in place towards preparing the pupils for the examination.
Mr Abamfo, who accompanied the Minister, said a total of 54,746 pupils from the Greater Accra Region were participating in the test in all the 29 Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies.
