Tony Dadzie, Dean of Discipline at St. John’s Senior High School in Sekondi has alleged that because some of the final year students of the school writing this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were fond of hiding “foreign materials” in their shoes and sandals, most of the students were asked to write Tuesday’s Core Mathematics paper barefooted.

“You will not believe it, but some of the students can hide some materials under the souls of their sandals. Some of the students even use sellotape to fix some unwarranted materials under their sandals and bring them into the examination hall,” he alleged.

This came to light when the Minister of Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang visited some senior high schools in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis to learn at first how this year’s WASSCE was being conducted in the metropolis.

According to the Dean of Discipline of the boys’ school, one of the students died before the examinations, whilst another travelled, adding that, in all, 979 students were registered for the examination.

Reacting to Mr Dadzie’s assertion, the Minister indicated that the decision not to allow students to wear their sandals to the examination hall might be the best policy the teachers had to adopt to ensure the students did not cheat.

The Education Minister had earlier paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Western Regional Minister, Alfred Ekow Gyan at his office in Sekondi.

Mr. Gyan, popularly called “Abott” remarked that even though challenges had been anticipated as a result of the large numbers which were turned out from the two year groups, the examination had been conducted in a commendable manner.

Accompanied by the Western Regional Director of Education, Augustine Nii Lantey Cleland, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang visited Methodist Senior High, St. Johns School, Adiembra Senior High, Fijai Senior High, Ghana Secondary Technical School, Bompeh Secondary Technical and Ahantaman Girls’ Senior High.

The rest were Takoradi Secondary School, Diabene Secondary Technical, Archbishop Porter’s Senior High and Sekondi College, all in the metropolis.

At the time of the visit in the morning, the students were writing the Core Mathematics paper.

One student was absent at the Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS) in Takoradi while at the Fijai Senior High School, six students were absent. Five of the students were said to have travelled outside the country and one dead.

At Diabene Senior High, the headmaster, Debra Sarpong, noted that the schools faced challenges in the Science practicals since the school laboratory was small and did not have enough equipment to enable students to do the practicals.

Speaking to journalists later, the Education Minister expressed satisfaction at the manner in which the ongoing WASSCE was being handled by the authorities of SHS's in the country, despite the challenges posed by the huge number of students writing the examination.

She was also impressed and satisfied with the preparations by the schools’ authorities for the examinations and how supervisors and invigilators were performing their respective duties.