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| Grading Format For WASSCE, SSSCE Candidates |
1/3/2007 |
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Wednesday, 03 January 2007
…GES, Others To Clear Mess
Confusion over the grading format between the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) system and its Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) counterpart is to be resolved this week at a meeting of key stakeholders in Accra.
Towards that goal, the Ghana Education Service (GES) will meet key partners in tertiary institutions to agree on a common interpretation of the old and new West African Examinations Council (WAEC) secondary school grading systems. The meeting is the result of the confusion arising from the conversion and application of the new grading system to the old one.
The acting Director-General of the GES, Mr Michael Nsowah, told the Daily Graphic that the educational authorities would meet with the universities to iron out the differences. He expressed the hope that by mid January the problem would have been solved to ensure the smooth admission of the students to tertiary institutions, adding that “people should rest assured that the problem will be solved”.
He said before the WASSCE was introduced in the country last year, the universities were made aware of the grading system.
The WAEC, in November last year, released a new grading system following the country’s participation in the WASSCE.
The WASSCE was adopted to replace the SSSCE, which was conducted only in Ghana.
Under the new grading system, A1 is Excellent, B2 Very Good, B3 Good, C4, C5 and C6 are interpreted as Credit, D7 and D8 are interpreted as Pass, while F9 is Fail.
A1 and B2 in the WASSCE are equivalent to A in the SSSCE, which also means Excellent, B3 is B (Very Good), C4 is C (Good), C5 and C6 are D (Credit), D7 and E8 are E (Pass) and F9 is F (Fail).
However, reports available to the Daily Graphic indicate that the introduction of the WASSCE grading system has brought about confusion, resulting in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Branch of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) calling for its immediate suspension. The KNUST, for instance, is reported to have left the duty of converting the WASSCE grades to their SSSCE equivalent to applicants.
A statement issued by the university in December when it advertised the sale of admission forms did not recognise D7 and E8 which WAEC equated with E in the SSSCE.
Mr Nsowah noted that the current advertisement put out by the University of Cape Coast for the sale of admission forms gave more advantage to those with SSSCE results than the WASSCE, saying that “we will streamline things to ensure a smooth admission process on the various university campuses”.
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