The organization said they support the decision to provide all resources required to adequately prepare students for examinations.
The organizations statement comes after the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has confirmed government’s purchase of past questions for candidates preparing for this year’s West Africa Senior Schools Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
Responding to a question on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, July 14, Dr Osei Adutwum said the past questions were procured from Kingdom Books and Office Stationery at a total cost of almost GHS35 million.
That move generated controversy with a former Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who was also a Vice Presidential Candidate in the 2020 elections, criticising it as backward.
“Achieving good results from our students cannot be achieved by buying past questions,” she said during one of her tours ahead of last year’s polls, which her party lost.
“We can only do that by grooming the children well, by supporting the teachers, by putting methods in place for strict supervision and accountability.”
A statement issued by its Executive Director Kofi Asare on Thursday July 15, Africa Education Wtach said “We have no objection to the supply of past questions, answers and examiners reports to support students so far as the teaching authorities recommend and find same useful in adequately preparing students ahead of their examinations. It is on this basis that we commend government for providing the past questions.”
Regarding the procurement deal and spending efficiency, the organization said “There are concerns with Spending Efficiency arising out of the decision by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to subject the procurement of GHC 34.8 million worth of past questions to a single-source procurement method.
“Selecting repeatedly for two years, a company without a track record in Ghana’s publishing industry to publish and supply about 450,000 copies of past questions raises more questions.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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