The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has directed that the publication of schools examination results table by the Ghana Education Service be stopped.
Mrs Wendy Enyonam Addy-Lamptey, Principal Assistant Registrar of the Council who announced this at a forum on examination malpractices at T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School at Gomoa Potsin, said the publication of the table encouraged malpractices as the schools were eager to score high positions on the table.
The forum was organised by the Department of Psychology and Education of the University of Education, Winneba.
Mrs Addy-Lamptey said the use of examination results for comparison of performance of schools, high stakes placed on examination results, pressure from parents and community, inadequate preparations and negative peer influence, were some of the causes of examination malpractices which must be fought to make our certificates credible and acceptable by the international community.
She said when WAEC certificates were no longer accepted by other countries, it would be difficult for the holders to go for further studies outside the country.
The Principal Registrar noted that examinations must not be seen only as a test of knowledge but also as a test of character.
She said certificates must bear an accurate indication of the candidate's performance.
Mrs Addy-Lamptey gave a statistics on examination irregularities to indicate how serious the situation was in the country.
According to her, in 2006 out of 120,427 candidates about 9,874 representing eight per cent, were involved in malpractices. In 2007, out of 129,497 candidates, 4,101 representing three per cent, were involved inmalpractices.
In 2008, out of 131,353 candidates 2,160 of them, representing two per cent, were involved in malpractices whilst 4,739 out of 157,988 candidates, representing three per cent, were involved in exam malpractices in 2009.
Mr David Tordzeagbo, Chairman of the Group, said examination had dominated the education system in some countries including Ghana.
He said the emphasis placed on examinations had made teaching and learning to be geared towards passing examination instead of the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values and attitude.
Mr Tordzeagbo said examinations had been focused on the assessment of the cognitive domain to the utter neglect of the effective and psychomotor domains of behaviour.
Mr Nazir Ahmad Keelson, Headmaster of the Potsin T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, commended the organizers for bringing the programme to the school.
He assured WAEC that the school had put in place effective machinery to check cheating in examinations.
He pledged to cooperate with the Council to ensure that examinations conducted in the school are devoid of malpractices.