It was in public interest, why threaten with law suit? - Africa Education Watch to WAEC

The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has noted that the report that was released by the think tank report last week which uncovered malpractices, violence, and chaos on the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE, was released in the interest of the public.

He has therefore described a plan by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to sue the think tank as unfortunate.

“It is unfortunate that WAEC is threatening to take legal action against Africa Education Watch for its recent report. We are minded of the public interest and our focus is to support the government to reform the educational sector going forward and operate in a way that is more efficient and credible for the Ghanaian public.”

“It is a great conversation, looking at what has happened in the past 15 years with the examination malpractices value chain. We acknowledge that this is a difficult concern to have, but we believe that at a point we shouldn’t shy away from this conversation because a society that does not have discussions on its development ends up ruining its own development,” Mr Asare said.

WAEC has threatened to file a lawsuit against policy think tank, Africa Education Watch over their recent report.

The report further noted that these malpractices are only symptoms of system deficiencies that have been either overlooked or swept under the carpet for many years.

The report said the credibility of WAEC’s examination systems is important in determining/defining the quality of Ghana’s education system.

The adoption and observance of international assessment standards is critical to sustaining WAEC’s and the WASSCE’s credibility.

However, acts like leakage of markers contact details, and questions have strong potential to reduce the credibility of WAEC’s assessment systems and standards, and by extension, the credibility and recognition of the WASSCE certificate.

The absence of a Regulator of Assessments that ensures WAEC’s compliance to international standards creates a vacuum in institutional accountability and the observance of quality assurance in assessment standards.

The malpractices, violence, and chaos that characterized the 2020 WASSCE examinations are only symptoms of system deficiencies that have been either overlooked or swept under the carpet for many years.

Anything short of a holistic reform of our assessment system only provides maximum assurance of the recurrence of similar if not worse malpractices in 2021 and beyond.

But Head of the Legal Department at WAEC, Rev. Victor Brew, said at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, that among the options available to WAEC in response to this report, including legal action against Africa Education Watch.

“All options are on the table including a legal suit. These are things that management has to first strategise on. Don’t be surprised if you hear of it in the coming days. But I can’t tell the actual date this will happen”, he said.