For two years succession, the GIMS College – a private second cycle school in Teshie, an Accra suburb, has failed to register scores of its students for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The school, which also gives opportunity to students to re-sit their WASSCE, failed to register students for the examinations for 2021 and 2022, even though the students paid to sit for the examination.
A source at the school told the Ghanaian Times at the weekend that because GIMS College was not an examination centre, it registered the students with a certified institution at Osu, in Accra, which reneged on its responsibility to enrol the students.
The affected students – numbering over 50, have from June to December last year, invaded the GIMS College to claim for refund of their registration fees, but to no avail.
One of the affected students, Ms Jessica Mensah, said she been devastated by the school’s failure to list her for the 2022 WASSCE, despite paying GH¢2,000 to that effect.
“I registered for the WASSCE with GIMS College and had my tuition there, but was shocked to the marrow on the day of the examinations when we were told that our names were not found in the system because the school had not registered us,” she lamented.
According to Ms Mensah, she had not been herself since that day – and would not consider schooling again for now.
Persistent efforts to get a refund from the school – just like many of his colleagues, have failed to yield results.
A student who spoke on conditions of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said he would not be able to rewrite the WASCE again “because I’m still struggling to recover from that shock.”
Showing no remorse when contacted, the Director of GIMS College, Simon Vormawor, confirmed the story but refused to mention the name of the institution which failed to register the students, assuring to refund the money to the students.
“I have personally asked her to give me a little time as she is not the only one the school is owing. There are many of them we’re working on,” was his response when told of the plight of Ms Mensah.
“I’m not in Ghana at the moment. We shall refund all those who need their money back,” he told the Ghanaian Times, on December 12, last year.
As of the time of filing this story, the school had still not honoured their obligations.
A similar incident happened in 2021, throwing many of the students into disarray.
BY JOHN VIGAH
