The Executive Director of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNACOPS), Obenfo Nana Kwasi Gyetuah, has urged an end to the West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) monopoly over public examinations in Ghana, arguing that introducing competition would enhance transparency, accountability, and the quality of educational assessment.
He suggested that Ghana should emulate countries such as Nigeria by permitting alternative assessment bodies to operate alongside WAEC. Speaking after GNACOPS petitioned the Ministry of Education on August 7 regarding concerns over the provisional 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results, Mr. Gyetuah said WAEC’s 74‑year dominance of the examination system had outlived its relevance. “I believe Ghana should pursue a similar path. It is long overdue,” he remarked on Eyewitness News.
Mr. Gyetuah stressed that monopolies often breed inefficiency and weaken accountability, insisting that educational assessment should not be controlled by a single institution. “Whenever a monopolistic system exists, there is a high likelihood of inefficiencies and unaccountability,” he said. Drawing a parallel with Ghana’s media landscape, he noted that competition had strengthened public discourse and accountability.
“If the only media platform available in Ghana were GBC, neither you nor I would be sitting here having this discussion today,” he said. The GNACOPS Executive Director said Ghana had already demonstrated its willingness to reform long-standing institutions, citing recent efforts to expand legal education and restructure the education sector.
“Today, I saw a notice indicating that the Ghana School of Law is opening opportunities for more institutions to participate in legal education. That is a positive development,” he said. He noted that functions previously handled solely by the Ghana Education Service had since been decentralised to specialised agencies, including the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Service.
“This demonstrates that the country is evolving. Why then should an examination system that has existed for 74 years remain largely unchanged?” he asked. Mr Gyetuah also renewed his criticism of WAEC’s use of the Stanine grading system, calling for its replacement with a criterion-referenced model that directly links examination scores to grades.
“The first reform I would like to see at WAEC is the removal of the Stanine grading system,” he said. “We need a criterion-referenced system where scores are clearly linked to grades. If a student scores within a certain range, everyone knows exactly what grade that score represents. It should be simple and transparent.”
He said allowing multiple assessment bodies to operate would boost public confidence in examination outcomes and address concerns over recurring issues such as examination leakages. “We are calling for the monopoly to be broken. Why should we continue to rely on only one assessment body at the basic education level when examination leakages continue to occur?” he said.
Source: William Narh
