The Deputy Education Minister has clarified that the printing of past questions for WASSCE candidates will not be done yearly due to the cost involved.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Friday, Mr John Ntim Fordjour said Heads of Schools have been directed to ensure that SHS Three students return the past questions booklets after sitting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

"It is not the practice or policy that every year, we’re going to print. Next year, for instance, there’s not going to be any need to print. Because what we have in the system is the property of the government of Ghana."

As a measure of ensuring continuity, he explained that final year students who fail to return their copies would not be given clearance to receive their results by their respective schools.

"So it is not a practice that every year, we’re going to print. Because what has been printed this year, covers the period 2015 to 2020. So there’s no point in going to print another set of past questions and examiner’s report next year."

With its inception in 2020, Mr Fordjour said that students received their past questions booklets with so much enthusiasm, which made it difficult for teachers to retrieve since adequate measures were not put in place.

"So the child gets it, and then he thinks that it is for him because no such prior caution or indication has been given. So he takes it, he writes his name, maybe Aristotle. He puts his nickname on it and then he thinks that it is for him. What happened, in the end, was that a lot of it was not returned. And which we are correcting."

He also said that government is exploring other technological options since majority of students have access to internet.

"With the advent of technology, we can even create an app because every student has internet, " Mr John Ntim Fordjour noted.