General News of Monday, 10 August 2020

Source: starrfm.com.gh

WASSCE: Students expected cheap questions because of Free SHS – GNAT

Some final year SHS students writing their WASSCE Some final year SHS students writing their WASSCE

The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Philipa Larson says final year senior high school students in the country expected this year’s WASSCE to be easy because of the free SHS policy.

According to her, most of the students have taken the ongoing exams for granted hence their disappointment over the nature of questions.

It comes on the back of the violence that has engulfed this year’s WASSCE over complaints of strict invigilation and difficult questions by candidates.

The Ghana Education Service has subsequently dismissed 14 of the students and barred them from writing the exams. President Akufo-Addo has however urged the GES to review the decision.

Speaking to Morning Starr sit-in host Monday, Mrs Larson said students have no excuse over their decision to attack the President over the questions.

“Are the students saying that if the questions were bought by their parents and not by the government, they’ll go home and insult their parents? I don’t understand why some students went about destroying property because the past questions didn’t appear."

"Other students were happy about the exams. Some students took the exams for granted. Maybe they thought because the SHS education was free, the exams were going to be free, in the sense that questions were going to be cheap,” she told host Lantam Papanko.

She also called for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools.

“I think that as a country we should look at corporal punishment and bring it back in a way”.