Eleven candidates of the 2020 and 2021 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) who distinguished themselves at the national and international levels were yesterday honoured in Accra.
In the 2020 examination, a former Student of Mfantsipim School, Cecil Kumah emerged as the best candidate in General Science; the overall best candidate in Ghana, as well as the overall best among more than two million candidates from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
The second and third prize winners were GodfredObeng, a former student of Hope College, and Afua Ansah, a former student of Achimota School, respectively who repeated the same positions at the international level.
For the 2021 examination, Kwame Brako Asante, a former student of Presbyterian Boys Senior High School was the best candidate in the General Science programme; the overall best candidate in Ghana, and the second-best in the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) member countries.
Two former students of St James Seminary Senior High School, KwakuOhene-Amoani and KorangRansfordAgyei; were second and third respectively in Ghana.
At the WAEC Distinction awards, which brought together educationists and examination officials; students, family and friends of awardees, all of them received cash, plaques and laptop computers while their schools also got plaques.
The distinction awards, instituted by the WAEC Endowment Fund, are organised every year to honour candidates who excel at the examination, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 ceremony was merged with that of 2021.
In the subject awards for the 2020 examination, Blessed Assefuah of Archbishop Porter Girls was the best candidate in Business while Cybil Tay of Wesley Girls’ High School was adjudged best in the General Arts programme.
For 2021, Francis Abokua and Sito Shiembor of St James Seminary Senior High School, emerged best students in General Arts and Business programmes while Justin Tettey, a former Achimotan was the Best Candidate in Visual Arts.
Commending the students and their schools for the feat, a Deputy Minister of Education, GiftyTwum-Ampofo, said the government was expecting improvement in the exanimation results which had fluctuated between 2019 and 2021 in order to reflect the efforts of the government and teachers.
Ahead of the 2022 examination, she urged all stakeholders of the examination to shun irregularities and urged WAEC to ensure that papers are safeguarded to guarantee the integrity of the examination and certificates awarded.
The Head of WAEC National Office, Mrs Wendy E. Addy-Lamptey, said no student qualified for awards in the Home economics, Agricultural science and Technical programmes and urged students studying such programmes to work harder.
On the 2022 examination which begins on August 1, and ends on September 27, she warned candidates against the activities of rogue websites and examination malpractices, noting that the Council was working with the security agencies to deal with such issues.
“We wish to assure all our stakeholders that measures will be put in place to ensure that the credibility of our examinations is not undermined”, she said and called for stakeholder support.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
