Gov’t urged to get specialised examiners to mark scripts of hearing impaired

Mr. Giba Abraham A doctor, the Upper East Regional Examination Officer, Ghana Education Service, has called for specialised examiners to mark the scripts of hearing-impaired candidates taking part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

He appealed to the government to collaborate with the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to contract people well-equipped in the area, who understood their writings to mark their scripts.

That, he said, would create fairness, and equity and enable more hearing-impaired candidates to perform well in the examination.

Mr. Adoctor made the call in an interview at Gbeogo School for the Deaf in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, where the students were writing the 2022 BECE.

Over the years, he explained, the school had been performing poorly, leading to a decline in enrolments, and attributed the cause largely to the unfair nature of the script marking, where examiners not specially trained marked their scripts.

He said 20 candidates were taking part in the ongoing exercise, “the school said the number has always been more than this but due to the abysmal performance, the enrolment has been declining.

“So, if we get specialised people to mark their papers, it will help them because they understand their language, if not they will struggle all these years and in the end, they will not pass, so we want GES and WAEC authorities to look into it.

“Because anytime they write they failed, they are discouraged to continue because they do not see the essence but if people who understand them mark their papers and they pass and go to secondary school, I think their parents will be encouraged to send them to school,” he added.

A little over 20,000 candidates are expected to sit for this year’s BECE in the region and the GNA monitoring revealed that the examination was moving peacefully.