Former Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has renewed his call for tougher measures against examination malpractice, advocating for the introduction of same-hall serialisation at the WASSCE level.
Speaking on News in Focus on Joy Learning TV, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful said serialisation — where candidates receive different sets of questions or the same questions arranged in varying order — was introduced at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) under his tenure and proved effective in curbing cheating and leakages.
“Sometimes the questions would be arranged differently; my question 1 would be question 20 in another center. So you couldn’t have gotten leaked questions to disseminate. That stopped the leakages at the BECE level,” he explained.
Turning his attention to the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), Dr. Adutwum said although collaboration with WAEC had introduced some level of serialisation, more needed to be done to ensure integrity.
“What we need to do more is serialisation within the hall, so that if I’m sitting next to you, our questions are different. Some universities in Ghana are already doing it. I don’t understand why we can’t do it at the WAEC level,” he stressed.
He argued that in-hall serialisation would end exam malpractice and discourage the culture of shortcuts in education.
“Exam cheating diminishes our education system. A child who knows he can cheat will not study; a teacher who knows he can help students to cheat will not teach. If we want quality education, we need to eliminate cheating within exam halls and leakages before exams to lay a strong foundation for quality learning,” he said.
While acknowledging that digital and computer-based testing is the future, he described serialisation as the most effective interim measure against cheating.
The former minister also encouraged the thousands of candidates currently writing the 2025 WASSCE to uphold integrity and give their best.
“To all our WASSCE candidates, I wish you the very best. Avoid shortcuts, stay confident, and give out your best effort. Ghanaian students are among the best you can find anywhere in the world, and I believe you will prove it once again,” he urged.
Source: Alfred Ayidzoe
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