Private school BECE scripts are not marked down by WAEC.

 

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) after the President of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) alleged the 2021 BECE scripts of private schools were marked down has said the claim is baseless and false.

A spokeswoman for the Examinations Council, Madam Agnes Teye Cudjoe speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News show monitored by EducationWeb said the wild allegations raised by Mr Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah lack evidence and proof.

“I am a bit surprised by the allegations by GNACOPS because the BECE scripts of public or private schools are not marked differently. We do not have different index numbers for private schools and public schools,” she stated.

Explaining the process of the national examination papers marking, Mrs Agnes told the host of Eyewitness News, Umaru Sanda Amadu the scripts only have candidates’ names and index numbers and not their school names.

“We have over 10,000 WAEC examiners who mark the BECE School scripts so how do you get these examiners together and tell them that these are the list of private schools marked down differently from public schools

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is a credible institution and I don’t think we will go that mile to mark private schools’ BECE papers down,” the Exams Council’s spokesperson told Cowboy journalist, Umaru Sanda.

Her comment comes after the Executive Director of the Private Schools Council, Obengfo Gyetuah on the Citi Breakfast show said WAEC deliberately markdown private schools to give public schools an advantage in school placement.

“Most of the private school students have been marked down, and we are calling for re-marking and even calling for an independent body to go into that. There’s even discrimination in the aspect of the school placement,” he stated.

Enoch added, “30% placement has been allocated to public students which means that if we write the same exam, and I am coming from a public school, I will be placed before someone from a private school despite the grades we have

If you look at the trend, you will realize that we have an enrolment of about 40% at Class 6, but as they transit to JHS, the number reduces drastically because parents have realized there is a 30% allocation to public schools.”

Obengfo Kwasi Gyetuah aside from 2021 BECE papers remarking consequently has called for transparency in the school placement, which he said has been skewed to benefit prospective students from government basic schools.

CREDIT: Educationweb