Free Pasco for all final-year students’ must be abolished – Lecturer
Corporate Governance Lecturer at Central University, Dr Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has called for the past questions (Pasco) booklet given to final-year students in the country to study and pass their examination to be abolished.
“I have suggested that the free past questions (Pasco) given to students to study and pass examinations is not a good thing and should be abolished. Education is not all about examination.
The money invested in procuring the past questions should rather be given to teachers as incentives in order for them to work assiduously in grooming the students for a brighter a future,” the university lecturer said in an interview.
In a panel discussion on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ morning show, he further opined that the issuance of free tablets for students should be monitored and properly regulated in order to swerve the purpose for which they were given to the students.
“The free tablets given to students should be well regulated so that the students do not spend the whole time downloading and playing games at the expense of their studies. That will defeat the purpose for which the tablets were given,” he said.
Meanwhile, the central government as part of an effort to cut the photocopying cost of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) past questions booklet has said it will upload the past questions online.
The upload of the WASSCE past questions online for Senior High School (SHS) students comes after the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum told Parliament GH¢68.5 million was spent on photocopying of the booklet.
“To help prepare the final year Senior High School students for the 2021 WASSCE, the Ministry has procured 446,954 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) questions from Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of GH¢78.00. The procurement will be funded from the Free Senior High School Account.
Mr Speaker, in 2020, the government through its efforts to help students amidst COVID-19 to prepare for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) procured 568,755 past questions for students to try their hands on before sitting for the actual exams.”
The Ministry of Education (MoE) contracted Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery to supply 568,755 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) past questions at a contract price of GHS 33,641,043.75.
The procurement of these questions was funded through the Free Senior High School Account and the results of the 2020 WASSCE were tremendous compared to previous years’ WASSCE performance
Mr. Speaker, the procurement process for the supply of published textbooks to Basic Schools is currently ongoing. The Ministry placed an advert in the Ghanaian Times on 1st June 2020, where various publishers approved by NaCCA, submitted their books and relevant documents to be taken through a Pre-Qualification procurement process,” he said.