Three teacher unions have called for a smooth conduct of this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates devoid of malpractices.

According to them, stakeholders including invigilators, supervisors, candidates, parents, teachers and officials of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) should all collaborate to ensure the sanctity, credibility and integrity of the examination which begins with Oral English throughout the country tomorrow, September 1, 2021.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Thomas Musah, the President of the National Association of Graduates Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr Eric Carbonu and the Presdent of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-Gh), King Awudu Ali, made the call in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic on Monday.

Candidates

A total of 446,321 final-year SHS students are writing the 2021 WASSCE for school candidates across the country.

They are made up of 221,437 males and 224,884 females from 965 public and private second cycle institutions.

The 2021 WASSCE statistics available to the Daily Graphic indicate that the public schools are 651 while the private ones are 314.

The examination, which began with the project work last Monday, will have the written papers taking off on September 1, 2021.

A total of 763 supervisors will be at the 763 centres to invigilate the examination.

GNAT

Mr Musah congratulated the candidates and wished them a successful examination.

“We are aware that the going has been tough, arduous and tempestuous, yet as the saying goes — when the going gets tough, the tough keeps going. Again, no lasting glory is won without struggle. That Ghanaian students have withstood all odds and gone through the system shows the zeal and resilience in them, and we congratulate them for these sterling qualities,” he said.

He said the time had come for candidates to make themselves, their teachers, parents and all stakeholders proud and expressed the hope that they would live up to the task since they had to safeguard their future by excelling.

NAGRAT

Wishing the candidates well, Mr Carbonu, for his part, said it was the expectation of NAGRAT that this year’s WASSCE would be conducted in an atmosphere of peace devoid of examination malpractices.

“We also take the opportunity to encourage all our teachers administering the examinations to conduct themselves professionally.

“We also call on the officials of WAEC to ensure that security is adequately provided for both students and teachers during the examination,” he said.

CCT-Gh

Mr Ali, who also wished the candidates the best in the examination, expressed the hope that they would come out with flying colours.

“As a yearly ritual, we would caution that they desist from any form of examination malpractice that has the tendency of getting their papers cancelled. But the most important thing is about our teachers. It is the wish of every teacher to see his/her student pass,” he said.