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Deputy Education Minister Reverend John Ntim Fordjour said the concept of making preparatory materials available to students as part of their major exam preparations is international best practice.
He said students pay for previous questions and examiners report around the world, which could cost up to $ 2,000.
According to him, the government’s decision to invest in such preparatory materials for students preparing for the West African Secondary School Certificate (WASSCE) exams cannot therefore be characterized as an out of place priority.
“The concept of preparing students for exams is not new. This is the best practice. Many countries, institutions and international examining bodies like Cambridge, IB, SAT, LSAT, IELT, etc. provide that past questions and examiners’ reports will be made available to students for a fee, much more expensive than the unit cost of this transaction. .
“You have to pay and access it. You don’t just study and take exams. The WAEC exam is no exception, ”he told Aisha Ibrahim on PM Express.
Reverend Ntim Fordjour, Wednesday July 14, explained that the idea of making these preparatory documents available to students is part of the reforms undertaken by WAEC to improve the quality of education.
“Key interventions deployed to ensure improved learning outcomes include payment of intervention money, provision of all basic textbooks to students and choice of textbooks for access in school libraries, providing questions and reports from previous reviewers, among others.
He represented the WASSCE 2020 performance, which achieved over 50% of A1 to C6 grades in all major subjects. In addition, 411 of the 465 students who obtained A1 in all subjects are Ghanaian students, ”he added.
Earlier Wednesday, Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum was on the parliamentary floor to answer questions on the matter.
Deputy member of the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr Clement Apaak, asked if the government would purchase and distribute the questions from the previous exams to graduating students preparing to write WASSCE this year and how that would be funded.
Dr Adutwum revealed that the ministry had obtained 446,954 previous questions from Messrs. Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of 78.00. for students.
He explained that the purchase is funded from the Free Senior High School program account.
Dr Apaak, in response, said the investments were out of place and a waste on the part of the government.
But Reverend Ntim Fordjour disagrees.
He insists that the deal with Kingdom Books, for example, offers good value for money.
“WAEC needed to engage partners to help produce the booklet because their primary mandate is not to go into publishing. Their main mandate is to monitor the quality of exams and administer them.
“So they hired publishers and Kingdom Books was hired by WAEC and granted the exclusive rights to be able to publish the prior questions and the examiner’s report. WAEC owns the copyright in previous WAEC matters, and the reviewers report and, therefore, any publisher who engages in the reproduction of any WAEC material, without legal permission, is doing so in violation of the law. », He clarified.
“To date, Kingdom Books reserves the exclusive right to reproduce these WAEC materials. When more publishers are able to obtain similar rights from the appropriate company (WAEC), a call for tenders can be issued in the future, ”added the Deputy Minister.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour said the deal was approved by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
“The fact that procurement was initiated under a single source does not mean that value-for-money considerations were ignored. On the contrary, value for money has been duly taken into account. This is a 457 page booklet. It’s not just a piece of a pamphlet, ”he explained.
Reverend Ntim Fordjour revealed that this is not the first time that preparatory materials have been provided to students.
He said the fact that the unit price in 2020 was 59 ¢ is incorrect.
“It is prudent to consider the total amount spent on purchases this year and the previous year in the context of the total number of graduating students across the country,” he explained.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education purchased 361,755 WAEC question booklets and previous exam reports at a unit cost of 71.25 per booklet, but in 2021 the ministry purchased 446,954 booklets at the unit cost of 78 per booklet (457 pages, covering past questions and examiners report from 2015 to 2020).
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