Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons seems to have supported the assertion made by former President John Dramani Mahama regarding an increase in examination malpractices in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) under the current government.

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The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, Mahama, faced criticism, particularly from supporters of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government, after expressing concerns about the credibility of the 2023 WASSCE results. His concerns stemmed from the significant number of passes recorded.

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Mahama raised issues related to lax invigilation and teacher involvement in student cheating, warning about potential consequences for the country's educational system. The comments received attention and were met with criticism from some quarters of the public."In many places, they let the children cheat. You go to places, and the teachers are conniving with the students to cheat. The effect will be seen later," Mahama

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said.

Simons has presented data to support the claim that examination malpractice has risen under the

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current administration.In a post on X dated January 4, 2024, Simons shared statistics indicating an increase in the percentage of cancelled West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) papers during the current government's tenure.According to the figures provided, less than 0.2% of WASSCE papers were cancelled in 2014. However, in 2023, over 0.8% of WASSCE papers were cancelled.

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Simons highlighted that this represents approximately a 600% increase in paper cancellations attributed to cheating during WASSCE examinations.“On whether exam cheating is worsening in Ghana, why aren't education stakeholders simply plotting the trends like they do in Nigeria (see attached)?“We know that cancellations for malpractice in Ghana have increased from 0.13% of results in 2014 to 0.81% in 2023 (600% increase),” he wrote.

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