The Ashanti Regional Organizer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Francis Adomako has appealed to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to extend the time-frame allocated for pupils who sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) from the current five days to at ten (10) days.
This, the organizer believes will give pupils enough to time to relax and prepare for the exams.
Giving pupils just five days to prepare and sit for nine subjects they have studied in three years is too harsh a punishment, the Regional organizer noted.
Speaking to this reporter during a tour of the Kumasi High School, an exam Center for the recent BECE exams, Mr Adomako, an educationist himself imagined the stress the pupils go through.
‘’I am of the opinion that the five days we give to pupils to sit for the BECE exams is too small and plead that the WAEC and GES reconsider the time frame to allow these pupils ten days to adequately prepare and relax for the nine subjects they write every year’’, the NPP man stressed passionately.
ENVIRONMENT:
Mr Adomako noted that the pupils have had to deal with new environments anytime they sit for the BECE.
This, he noted comes with its own challenges since the pupils may have only sat in examination in their schools before the BECE.
According to the Regional Organizer, relaxing the time frame would help the pupils get enough time to get used to the new environment.
‘’These pupils sitting for this year’s exams may not have seen this school or stepped here before but could take time to tour this center after the first paper to get used to if there were intervals or days of rest within the days set for the exams’’, the educationist posited.
APPEAL:
Mr Adomako posited that if the ultimate goal of the GES and WAEC is to see basic school pupils come out with flying colors in the BECE then more days should be allocated to make them comfortable.
Allocating a week to the five days given them, the organizer argued will make pupils more relaxed in studying for the papers.
He argued such flexible time frame will also help to reduce the stress pupils go through in preparing for the nine papers.
‘’A paper a day would be a very good idea so that pupils would get time to prepare for the following day’s exams or paper and thereby enhance the chances of them doing well since they will be more relaxed in writing’’, the NPP organizer noted.
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