• The WEST AFRICA EXAMINATION COUNCIL (WAEC) was formed in the year 1952 with the mission to remain Africa's foremost examining body providing qualitative and reliable educational assessment, encouraging academic and moral excellence and promoting sustainable human resource development and international co-operation. Its Core Values include; Integrity, Professionalism, Accountability, Transparency, Team work, Innovativeness

We members of GHANA EDUCATION WATCH (a network of education practitioners, parents and teachers), believe that in spite of WAEC several years of existence, it has not lived to its full mandate and will therefore like to petition the President of Ghana to review the work of WAEC and subject it to a public and service user fitness, relevance, trust and integrity test.

Examination is the pivotal point around which an education system revolves. The outcome of the examination is always used as an indicator of the success or failure of that particular system of education.

Currently, we think the public and stakeholders in general do not believe examinations conducted by WAEC act as good indicators or offer reliability and relevance enough to be indicator of Exam success or failure due to following reasons;

1. SHS results though are easily accepted as entry requirements by Universities in Ghana, they are not accepted globally by most Universities without the need for a top-up or Pre-University course.

2. The mode of conducting the exams defies the principle of reliability in an examination. Too many inconsistencies cast doubts on the validity of the Exam outcomes

3. There are reports of schools that have refused to be involve in Exam malpractices during BECE and thus are unofficially penalised silently with bad Exam results yearly even though these schools believe their children study hard for the exams and are always well prepared. They just don't think it is morally right to accept answers secretly on the day of examination.

4. Teachers in recent times, are alleged to have secured leaked questions and offered answers to their pupils hours before the test at the JHS level. When such malpractices keep taking place they have negative impact both in the short term and the long term. Some of these include;

- Genuine hardworking pupils get discouraged and gradually feel like joining the 'leakage party'

- The real pupils who actually had an educational experience in their school life are denied the opportunity to gain admission to top schools simply because those who had leakages outperformed them with their 'fake grades'. No wonder some hold 1st class university certificate yet can't work to justify it.

We believe the International Schools in Ghana have a greater advantage over the majority of Ghanaian Public school pupils. Simply because the former have globally recognised Exam boards as their alternative and can offer that to their students while the latter in public schools are restricted to just one, and that is WAEC. Which is unfair. What this means is that, if you can afford the fees to attend an international school then you have a choice but if you can't then your destiny lies in the hands of WAEC. In some public schools in Ghana, the poor grades attained in the WAEC exams is like a self fulfilling prophecy or easily predictable.

We are asking teachers, parents and all adults in Ghana who believe that the Ghanaian pupils/students should be offered an alternative to WAEC should sign this petition to be presented to the President of Ghana.