There is the need to revisit the drawing board as far as education in Ghana is concerned, in order to map out strategies to deal with some of the avoidable challenges, including examination malpractices and lack of accessibility that have bedevilled the sector in Ghana over the years, Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, has suggested.

According to him, the pressure to access the few well-endowed senior high schools is a major incentive for both parents and students to engage in exam malpractices in order to boost one’s grades.

“I think the time has come as a nation to pause and reflect. If we can improve the quality of all the schools across board, if I live in Akumesu in the Manya Krobo district and the secondary school proximate to me is as good as Achimota, I really don’t have to do anything to come all the way to Achimota to excel,” he said.

He also observed that the premium placed on examination as a qualification to progress in academic work is also contributing to the malpractices in examination.

“I think that is because premium is placed on a single exam…because of that premium and the outcomes of that exam, for instance in this country if you want to go to any of the first class schools you must end up having eight or nine As and everybody wants their children to go to the Prempeh Colleges and the Achimotas and the Mfantsipims and the St. Roses and the Wesley Girls of this world,” he said.

“So, therefore, parents and students will tend to do anything to ensure that they do well in the exam. Sometimes, I think they really and truly prepare adequately, but it is the pressure to excel. You need to excel so that you will get better placed. I think that it is one of the reasons why these things happen,” he said on GHOne Television’s State of Affairs Monday June 13.