Mr. Kwame Akoi, a medical student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, was on Thursday adjudged the overall best candidate for the 2007 West African Senior Secondary Examination Certificate (WASSCE). He was also named the best candidate in the General Science programme and received 550 U.S dollars and two certificates for his award, while Achimota School, his alma mater, received two plaques for producing an excellent student. Mr Akoi, born on December 16, 1989 and a native of Larteh Akwapim in the Eastern Region, is the son of a former staff of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) who died in an accident while travelling from Wa to Accra on an official assignment. He also placed second in the whole of West Africa and will represent Ghana next year during the Council meeting to take his award at the regional level. Mr Akoi is therefore the first Ghanaian to take an award at the regional level since Ghana joined counterpart West African countries from Nigeria, Sierra Leona and The Gambia in the Senior School Certificate Examinations. Other award winners are Ms Theophiline Bose-Duker, a former student of Wesley Girls High School who was adjudged the second overall best student and the best candidate in the General Arts programme and Ms Nana Akua Frimpomaa Amofa, an old student of Holy Child School, who was also adjudged the third overall best candidate and the best candidate in the Business programme. They received 500 and 450 U.S dollars respectively in addition to two certificates and plaques to their alma mater. The West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations National Excellence Awards was established by the WEAC Endowment Fund with an objective of providing prizes to candidates who distinguish themselves in the Council’s national and international examinations. The ceremony is the second in the series since Ghanaian students joined their counterparts in other West African countries for WASSCE. Mrs Patience Ayesu, Head of the National Office at WAEC, explained that to be eligible to receive an award from WEAC, candidates must obtain a minimum of eight Grade A1s. The awards are in three categories namely, the Excellence Awards, Distinction Awards and the Merit Awards. She said out of a total of 134,031 candidates who sat for the May/June 2007 WASSCE only five satisfied the eligibility criterion for the Excellence Awards and no candidates satisfied the criteria for the Distinction and Merit Awards. Mrs Ayesu expressed concern about the large number of failures recorded in English Language, Mathematics and Integrated Science and spelt out a number of recommendations that the Chief Examiner had made to reverse the downward trend in performance. Among the recommendations is the need for teachers to put emphasis on the correct use of English language, irrespective of the subjects they teach, in order to help candidates become more proficient in English. “Candidates should be taught to identify the key demands of questions and how to answer them,” she said, and urged candidates to be aware of the benefits of adhering strictly to the rubrics and the consequence of disregarding them. Mrs Ayesu announced that the Council would be embarking on inspection and monitoring of schools to help address the inadequacies that tended to militate against effective teaching and learning in schools. Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, Director General of the Ghana Education Service, expressed happiness that the 2007 examinations recorded fewer malpractices as compared to the 2006 examinations. “While 9,872 candidates were involved in examination malpractices in 2006, 4,101 candidates were involved in malpractices in 2007.” He said the Council had taken a decision to publish the names of students who engaged in exams malpractices next year. The GES boss expressed worry about the registration of unqualified candidates and cautioned heads of Junior and Senior High schools to stop the practice since it led to falsification of continuous assessment scores. While congratulating the award winners, Mr Bannerman-Mensah urged students preparing to take the May/June 2009 examinations to resolve to do better than their predecessors. “We also need to commend the parents of our awardees who have obviously performed their supervisory and supportive roles to the best of their abilities.” Source: GNA