In-hall exam question serialization will end cheating – Former MoE

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has called on the government to adopt in-hall serialisation of examination questions to curb examination malpractice in the country’s national and international examinations.

In an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, he said serialisation — where candidates receive different sets of questions or the same questions arranged in varying order — was introduced at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) under his tenure and proved effective in curbing cheating and leakages.

“Sometimes the questions would be arranged differently; my question 1 would be question 20 in another centre. So you couldn’t have gotten leaked questions to disseminate. That stopped the leakages at the BECE level,” the past Education Minister and Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe constituency explained.

Commenting on the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), Dr. Adutwum said that although collaboration with WAEC had introduced some level of serialisation, more needed to be done to ensure integrity.

“What we need to do more is serialisation within the hall, so that if I’m sitting next to you, our questions are different. Some universities in Ghana are already doing it. I don’t understand why we can’t do it at the WAEC level,” he stressed.

The immediate past Minister for Education argued that in-hall serialisation would end examination malpractice and discourage the culture of shortcuts in education.

“Exam cheating diminishes our education system. A child who knows he can cheat will not study; a teacher who knows he can help students to cheat will not teach. If we want quality education, we need to eliminate cheating within exam halls and leakages before exams to lay a strong foundation for quality learning,” he said.

While acknowledging that digital and computer-based testing is the future, the past Education Minister described serialisation of examination questions as the most effective interim measure against cheating.

The former Minister of Education, speaking on News in Focus on Joy Learning TV, encouraged the final-year Senior High School students writing the 2025 WASSCE to uphold integrity and give their best.

“To all our WASSCE candidates, I wish you the very best. Avoid shortcuts, stay confident, and give out your best effort. Ghanaian students are among the best you can find anywhere in the world, and I believe you will prove it once again,” he urged.

This year, a total of 461,640 final-year Senior High School (SHS) students, representing 207,381 males and 254,259 females, are expected to participate in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School.

To be held at about 700 centres across the country, the management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in a statement sighted by Pretertiary.com said this year’s candidature is slightly higher than the 2024 entry figure of 460,611.

In all, candidates from 701 Senior High Schools (SHSs) will be participating in the 2025 edition of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School at over 700 examination centres nationwide.

According to the West African Examinations Council, responsible for the conduct of the 2025 WASSCE for School candidates, each examination centre will be monitored by 701 supervisors, 1,391 assistant supervisors, and 15,391 invigilators.

This year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination marks the fourth year that Ghanaian students are writing the “Ghana Only” version of WASSCE, introduced to give the country full control over the examination calendar.