Private Schools Demand the Remarking of BECE Exams Over Claims of Discrimination

The Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNCOP) is demanding an independent probe into the marking of scripts of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates from private schools. It is claimed that private school candidates are being deliberately marked down in the BECE to give candidates from public schools an upper hand.

Private schools consistently outperform their public school counterparts in the BECE.This stems from the continuous monitoring that is done in these schools. They, however, claim that is not the case this year.

In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Enoch Gyetuah, the President of GNACOP, said the discrimination has resulted in the challenges many parents whose wards registered for the BECE at private schools are facing.

"Most of the private school students have been marked down, and we are calling for re-marking and even calling for an independent body to look into that. There’s even discrimination in the aspect of placement. The government has reserved 30% allocation for people in public schools, which means that if we write the same exam, and I am coming from a public school, I will be placed before someone from a private school irrespective of the grades we have".

This claim by the private schools have been rejected by the West Africa Exams council (WAEC) and some examiners who mark the examinations. They say this is not possible.

The GNACOP president, further added that parents of children in private schools often withdraw their children from the private schools in their final year and enroll them in public schools with the hope of getting better grades and placement.

"Some public school heads even canvass [for private school kids]. They move from school to school for the students we have given a good [academic] foundation and register them in their schools. If you look at the trend, you will realize that we have an enrolment of about 40% in Class 6, but as they transit to JHS, the number drops drastically because parents have realized that the government has this allocation of 30% to public schools.

He further opined that the computerized school selection and placement is not fair as it is skewed to favour public schools.

By akumbobe (self media writer)