Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has called on Ghanaians to stop blaming the bad results in the 2016 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) on the frequent power outages.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC)Tuesday announced the 2016 WASSCE results, noting that out of the total 274,262 candidates who participated in the exams, 125,065 students obtained A1 to C6 in English Language, which is 53.19%, 59,725 (25.40%) obtained D7-E8 whilst 46,595 (19.82%) had F9.
For Mathematics, 77,108 (32.83%) obtained A1-C6; 65,007 (27.68%) obtained D7-E8 whilst 89,477 (38.10%) had F9. Out of 2,184 candidates who had issues with their results, 598 candidates had their entire results cancelled.
Although WAEC said this year’s performance is a significant improvement over that of 2015, various Ghanaians including the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo believe the outcome of the examination is not good news to celebrate.
“That less than half of senior secondary school certification examination had the requisite grades for the university is a very, very sad day for the development of our country,” he said.
Some Ghanaians according to Kwesi Pratt are also blaming the poor performance on the frequent power outages otherwise known as ‘Dumsor’.
He however believes the power outages can never be a part of the reasons for the bad performance of the candidates.
“The factors are many, I have even heard some people say that dumsor dumsor is even a part because the students were not getting light to study and all that…maybe it was part but our fathers even made it without light…,” he said on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ on Thursday.
According to Kwesi Pratt, it would be unfair to state the power outages as a major factor since the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and other past leaders made their marks in the academic field at an age when there was no light.
“When our fathers were schooling, there was no light, they studied with locally made lanterns, the first PHD holder in Ghana, Dr Amato, what light did he use when studying…there was no light in Nkroful in the days of Kwame Nkrumah, yet they made their mark…dumsor maybe a factor but I don’t think it’s a main factor,” he argued.
But this line of argument, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, Henry Kwabena Kokofu who was a co-panelist on the show said is untenable as the world has moved on from the days of Kwame Nkrumah and power has become a necessary part of education.
“We live an age when students have to go on the internet and research for more information including communicating and taking instructions even across nations so dumsor is not helping…this age is different from the ages past…,” he argued.
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