2020 WASSCE Failure Rate – Boom for remedial schools, apprenticeship

I don’t write as a prophet of doom but the teller of the bitter truth that WASSCE 2020 may produce the highest rate of failure.

Ghana may experience unprecedented demand for remedial school education and increased demand for apprenticeship training by the youth of Ghana should the failure rate surge as predicted. For Final year students working hard to excel the twelve commandments of WASSCE 2020. is worth looking at.

Some of our current crop of SHS students enjoying Free SHS have shown they are just not ready for the WASSCE. With aggregate 47 and 48 gaining admission through self-placement to study General Science, Business, Agric Science and other programmes, we should not be surprised if they fail.

It’s not too late to revise the Free SHS policy according to Prof Addae-Mensah according to him, the policy implementation is saddled with challenges.

The increased demand for both services (remedial school education and increased demand for apprenticeship training). This would the result of the Free SHS, which gave the opportunity to many students who performed poorly at the BECE yet gained admission to SHS at the expense of the taxpayers’ money.

Many of the students who gained admission are likely to fail the 2020 WASSCE, which has been delayed by COVID-19.  Let the truth be told, students are struggling to joggle between preparing for the 2020WASSCE and being extra careful with coronavirus.

The government’s quest to obtain political points suing the Free SHS first bach results might have pushed the government to open school for final year students and we hope the WAEC doe not drop the WASSCE 2020 question standard in favour of Ghana.

Inferior quality inputs (the caliber of students who have been admitted in the last three years) very often yield very poor results and so there is a likelihood that a high number of students will fail the 2020 WASSCE examination.

When you have the taxpayers’ resources been invested in students who threaten each other ahead of reopening in the era of COVID-19, you know where your investments are going.

Another open truth is that not every WASSCE student who sits for the WASSCE ends up passing, thus  2020 WASSCE outcome will not be different.

The government has been proactive by putting in place measures to increase contact hours for final year students, resource them with over 400, 000 pass questions and many more to ensure the first batch of the Free SHS does not disappoint.

The first batch of Free SHS students must prove beyond doubt that that government’s investment in secondary school education is worth it.

ALSO READ: School Placement Wahala, a blessing in disguise for ailing private SHSs

2020 WASSCE  Failure – What Private SHS must do now

62% of 2018 WASSCE candidates fail to achieve a pass mark, 2019 WASSCE results released indicated; over 74,000 fail the English Language alone.

The 2020 results will be much worse if care is not taken but it must be an opportunity for Private Secondary Schools, Remedial Schools, and Artizans who want apprentices.

My advice to operators of Private and Remedial schools is to start expanding their facilities for remedial students before they are overwhelmed by the high numbers.

Their intake will triple as many of the students who will take the WAEC exams are likely to fail and not make the grades.

All those who should have gone to receive their SHS education in private schools if the Free SHS was competitive will now have to seek the services of remedial schools if they are to make it to the tertiary institutions or pass the WASSCE.

Already, remedial schools have become fashionable and attractive among students who consider the remedial school as an option if they fail their exams.

2020WASSCE Failure: Boom for Vocational Training and Apprenticeship beacons us

WASSCE 2020 failure by students will serve as a boom for Vocational Training and Apprenticeship in Ghana.

Tailors, Seamstresses, Carpenters, vulcanizers and other apprenticeship service providers whose apprentices have reduced since the introduction of free SHS must also brace themselves to take advantage of the opportunity.

All those who had poor grades but gained admission are very likely to return with bad outcomes. They will come to now learn their trades.

It will be an opportunity for private schools, remedial schools and madams, and masters who are artisans to cash in and make enough money having been denied students and apprentices over the past two and a half years.

Since the introduction of the free SHS, students have spent more time at home that was the case in the past.

ALSO READ: 5 reasons why BECE Students with Aggregate 26-48 will enjoy SHS placement

They had to vacate to give way for their colleagues to come to school. If huge numbers have continued to fail in Mathematics, Integrated Science, and English language in recent times, the worse failure rate in terms of numbers will be experienced when candidates seat for the 2020 WASSCE.

Inadequate contact hours, rushing students through the preparation, and other constraints facing students and teachers at the Senior High School may easily translate into a huge number of students failing the West African Senior Secondary Examination.

Students in other West African Countries like Nigeria will have better performance and edge over Ghana in the final analysis because they continue to spend more time in school compared with their Ghanaian counterparts whose terms have turned into inadequate semesters and more time at home.

The 2019 WASSCE results revealed English Language: 167,733 (48.96%) obtained A1-C6; 100,781 (29.42%) obtained D7-E8 while 74,038 (21.61%) had F9;

Mathematics (Core): 223,737 (65.31%) obtained A1-C6; 72,408 (21%) obtained D7-E8 while 46,384 (13.54%) had F9;

Integrated Science: 216,095 (63.17%) obtained A1-C6; 91,151 (27%) obtained D7-E8 while 34,825 (10.18%) had F9;

Social Studies: 257,838 (75.43%) obtained A1-C6; 52,983 (15.50%) obtained D7-E8 whilst 30,970 (9.06%) had F9.

The president of Ghana has in this light called on the first batch of free SHS students to perform well to vindicate him and shame his critics. Sadly many of our SHS students are preoccupied with things that steal from time, time, seriousness, dedication, and the peaceful mindset needed to harness the benefits of the Free SHS. Are we ready for the worse? Time will tell

Source: WISDOM HAMMOND| NEWSGHANA24.COM