Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has said that the West African Education Council (WAEC) should be held to account for malpractices recorded during the conduct of WASSCE.

He is particularly concerned about the number of results withheld during the examination.

Speaking on the Super Morning Show on Thursday, November 9, 2021, Mr. Asare intimated that if WAEC is made to account for its stewardship, the quality of the WASSCE will significantly improve going forward.

The concern follows the release of results for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations. A statement from the Council indicated that the scripts of candidates from 174 schools in certain subjects have been withheld and are being scrutinised.

Though the Council has stated that the withheld results may be canceled or released based on the outcome of the investigations, Mr. Asare is of the view that such instances could largely be avoided.

"We need to take a look at the accountability system within the assessment body, WAEC. After all that happened, 174 schools having the results of their candidates withheld [which is about 20 percent of the total number of schools]. Who is being held to account for that at WAEC, in the schools that were involved, who has been held in the security services and within WAEC External examiners?

"It is only when accountability is exacted unto public officers who have the responsibility to act on behalf of the public in good faith, that we can end such collusions which lead to examination malpractices and blur or dents the integrity of our assessment systems," he added.

"It is good to be happy and jubilate that we have at least 50% of the candidates have scored good grades in at least the four core subjects. But then, if we want to improve our system, we should rather be mindful of waiting for the entire final results to undertake a district /regional school-level analysis of the performance and satisfy ourselves on the extent to which the intervention that government has deployed under the free SHS programme is working," he said.