BECE leakage: NAGRAT calls for immediate resignation of WAEC boss

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has asked for the head of the Ghana Office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Sam Ollennu to step down.

This follows the massive leakage and cancellations of five papers in the ongoing Basic Education Certificate
Examination (BECE).

The Association also wants the dissolution of the WAEC Board.

Joy News’ Michaela Anderson was at a news conference and reports that NAGRAT is blaming WAEC for the leakage.

The group said it was necessary for the Rev Ollennu to step aside because his continuous presence as the Council’s head will influence the investigation process.

Vice President of NAGRAT, Angel Kabonu said “the results that students churn out is a reflection of our competence or otherwise and if people are adamant to our call…because our call does not stem from only what has happened this year, we have series of historical developments that we will present to the table, if that is not done we will have to reconsider our relationship with that examination body.

“Don’t forget the questions are from us, the assessment and marking of the examination is from us, we invigilate the examination and without us the examination cannot go on”, he added.

He indicated that examination body should be blamed for the leakage and no one else.

“When papers leak and the questions are on the internet, whatsApp and students could email them, then we will have to ask ourselves the question ‘where is it coming from’, definitely it is coming from WAEC”.

Angel Kabonu says students should not be made to pay for the incompetence of the Council.

Founder of Ashesi University, Patrick Awuah agrees with NAGRAT.

He is angry about how this canker continues to fester adding that the first step in dealing with cheating during examinations is for leadership of WAEC to be dismissed.

“We need to get beyond announcing the leakage and cancelling papers and really get into a process of house cleaning at WAEC, they really need to clean their house because clearly, individuals within that organisation are causing these leakages”.

These individuals according to him, need to be identified and sanctioned and “if we are unable to find these individuals who are doing this, I would say they need to look at the leadership of WAEC because at the end of the day the buck has to stop somewhere”.

Patrick Awuah said the leakages are occurring as a result of a weak leadership at WAEC and “that leadership must be changed”.

He added that the situation will not change unless tough measures and decisions are taken.

Source: Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa

Ghana Education Service To Clamp Down On Age-Cheating Officials

The Ghana Education Service (GES), will soon enact a policy to regulate the dates of birth of teachers and other categories of staff in the education sector, Acting Director-General of GES, Dr. Jacob Kor has disclosed.

He noted that many employees of GES swore affidavits to change their birth certificates when they realized they were nearing retirement, or asked for extension of time after their retirement.

The Acting Director-General of Education, who disclosed this at a meeting with stakeholders in Education, as part of his maiden familiarization tour of the Central Region, expressed the hope that the new policy, when in force, would clean the sector of pensioners and pave way for young people.

The meeting was attended by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Directors of Education, as well as Heads of second cycle and basic schools, Managers of Unit Schools, representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and labour unions.

Dr Kor admonished the educationists and other employees of GES to critically take into consideration their retirement, and plan adequately towards it, reminding them of the fact that “the positions they held were not their assets that would be with them forever.”

Dr Kor was worried of recent reports, which suggested that 46 per cent of teachers did not write lesson notes, and urged head teachers to discredit teachers who did not write lesson notes when they were due for promotion.

He also charged Headteachers of basic schools to strictly enforce the rules and regulations of GES, and show a strong sense of leadership in their schools.

Dr Kor disclosed that head teachers, teachers and other staff of GES would soon be made to sign performance contracts, which he believed would help address the falling standards of education.

The Acting Director-General said the performance contract would be used as a yardstick to either promote or demote staff of the service.

He, therefore, urged them to be abreast with the new rules and regulations of GES, to enable them to do what was expected of them.

Mrs. Mary Owusu Achiaw, Central Regional Director of Education, advised teachers to put in much efforts in the discharge of their duties, change their attitude and behaviour towards work.

She also urged District Education Directors to co-exist with the managers of unit schools to promote religious tolerance.


Source: GNA

Keeping short hair in SHS is just a norm, not a rule – Fomer GES boss

The existing rule in Senior High Schools (SHSs) which stipulates that students must keep their hair trimmed and short is just a norm, according to a former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Michael Nsowah Adjei.

Three students of the St John’s Grammar Senior High School were prevented from writing Christian Religious Studies paper in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

This was a punishment meted out to them by the headmaster of the school because the 3 girls had refused a directive to go trim their bushy hair which is said to be against the school rules.

The GES has however ordered the school authorities to sponsor the girls to write the paper in the November/December edition of WASSCE.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Nsowah Adjei stated that there is no recommended length of hair for SHS students but the various schools make that determination.

He acknowledged that even though the students have their individual rights, school authorities have been enforcing the short hair rule as a means of helping the students concentrate on their studies.

“For many of the schools, and also for economic reasons, they will prefer that the students don’t waste too much time going to expensive salons so they advise that the students keep their hair low so they can concentrate on their studies and it has become a norm,” he remarked.

The two reasons according to Mr. Nsowah informed the decision by school authorities to adopt and incorporate the short hair policy into the various rules and regulations of Senior High Schools.

“In fact, in some of the schools, they allow them to even add hair pieces to make corn roll and all those kinds of things but…it all depend of the school,” he added.

The former GES Director General nonetheless condemned the headmaster of the school for preventing the students from writing their external exams.

He asked, “how can you prevent somebody from writing WASSCE exam which will determine his or her destiny? I don’t think that is right.”

Mr. Nsowah further queried how come the school authorities failed to see the bushy hair of the girls until the day of the exams.

“This is a rule which is enforced so why is it that whoever is responsible for enforcing the rules did not notice this until the person was about to enter the exam room? If it is the rule, it is accepted and it is in the rules and regulations, then somebody must be put in charge to enforce it to make sure that everybody complies,” he said.

“If they are in the boarding houses, there is a housemaster and a house mistress. If the person is a day student, every morning when they go to assemblies or they go to class, a teacher who notices it should draw the attention of the authorities so why was this not noticed until the student was about to enter the exam room,” he added.



By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana

SHS hair rules don’t apply to caucasians, ‘they’ll look ugly’ – Angel Kabonu

The subject of why students in Senior High Schools (SHS) are made to cut their hair has been broached with some controversial views, after 3 students of the St John’s Grammar were disallowed from writing the paper in the ongoing West African Senior Secondary School Certificate examination (WASSCE).

The students failed to cut what the headmaster of the school Emmanuel Ofoe Fiemawhle deemed “bushy” and “unkempt.”

The news has generated some angry response to the headmaster’s decision and the reasoning behind such several decade-long rules has been questioned.

The Vice President of the National Association of Graduate Association (NAGRAT), Angel Kabonu has explained that unlike Ghanaians, Caucasian students in Ghana are not allowed to cut their hair because it makes them look ugly.

“What I gathered was that when Caucascians students cut their hair to the level of black ladies, it makes them look very ugly and it can even affect their looks so Caucasian students are not allowed to cut their hair.There is no rule in the Ghana Education Service concerning Caucasians in Ghana because we are not Caucasians , we are negroes.”

He made the comments while sharing his thoughts on the story of some students at the St. John Grammar School who were prevented from writing the West African Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for keeping their hair bushy.

Afro Hair for Fashion

Kabonu explained that most students are discouraged from keeping unkempt and bushy hair because in some cases they use it for either fashion or to engage in examination malpractices.

” Sometimes when they are about to leave school, they try to keep their hair so that when they leave school they are able to go and do perming and whatever they want to do with it…You cannot keep Afro hair that will look as if you are performing in Hollywood.You are in school and you are supposed to behave uniformly so as to ensure that the objective for which you are in school is achieved so when students have bushy hair, they are asked to cut the hair so as not to flaunt it as if it is a fashion show that we have in school.”

Kabonu pointed out that school authorities are to ensure that students dress properly without students questioning the basis for that particular instruction.

“Obedience to rules is part of the upbringing and training to be a proper person in society,” he said.

Basis for rules

Though Kabonu did not support the decision to exempt students from writing the exams, he stated that such rules have been introduced by the GES to deal with  some challenges.

Below are some of the challenges that according to Kabournu, influenced the GES to introduce such rules.

.Exam Malpractices

Kabonu explained that students in some instances “put materials in their hair and take it to the examination centre”

He said students have on several times been caught with such materials in their hair.

.Distraction

Kabonu said the “maintenance of a bushy hair also distracts the students from concentrating” on their academic work. Another reason according to him is maintain a “uniform look” for students.

He also believes “the rule is  part of the discipline that you are supposed to be subjected to when you are in school.”

How to handle violation of rules

Offering his suggestion on how to handle students who violate spelt out rules in their respective schools, Kabonu said students are expected  to conform to the rules irrespective of whether they agree with them or not.

“A child of a school is supposed to conform to the rules of the schools,… it is part of the upbringing.

“When you get out of school in three years and you want to keep your hair as the forest in the Western Region you can do but so long as you are in school wanting to be brought up within the rules and regulations of the school, you are supposed to abide by the rules and regulations of the school.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana