End-of-term exam fees? GES says ‘No!’
The GES has noticed a disturbing trend where some schools require their students to pay end-of-term exam fees, ranging from Ghc 10.00 to Ghc 15.00 or more, despite being illegal and unethical.
Section of the letter reads: “The Revised Learning Assessment framework of the SBC document is available on the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA) Website. Which means that the Standard-Based Curriculum (SBC) states that schools based assessment, comprising test undertaken internally at the school level should form the basis for the internal Assessment Score (IAS). This includes Homework, Class Test, Group work and Project work”.
When students are asked to pay such fees, they may feel compelled to comply in order to pass the exam and avoid failing their classes.
As an institution devoted to making higher education accessible to more people in Ghana, the GES does not condone these practices, which we believe exploit financially vulnerable students who are already struggling to pay for school.
What are end-of-term exams?
End-of-term exams are tests that students take at the end of a school term. They are usually used to assess what a student has learned over the course of the term.
However, some schools charge students for taking these exams, which is illegal according to Ghana’s Education Service (GES).
Who gets charged these fees and why?
End-of-term exam fees are typically charged to students by their instructors, in order to cover the costs of proctoring and grading the exams. However, the Ghana Education Service has cautioned against this practice, saying that it constitutes illegal collection of money from students.
The GES says that these fees place an undue financial burden on students and their families, and that instructors should instead be paid by the school or college for their time spent proctoring and grading exams.
The Ethics of Collecting Fees
It’s the end of the term, and your students are taking their final exams. You’ve been collecting money from them all semester long, and now you want to collect a fee for the end-of-term exams. But is it ethical to do so?
What happens if schools do collect fees illegally?
According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), schools that collect end-of-term examination fees from students do so illegally. This is because the Basic Education Act, which establishes free, compulsory and universal basic education, does not allow for the collection of such fees.
If schools are caught collecting these illegal fees, they risk having their licenses revoked. So it’s not worth it to collect them in the first place!
Report An Issue To GES
According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), headteachers and school authorities have been cautioned against collecting illegal end-of-term examination fees from students.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwa. He said the practice had become rampant in many schools and warned that it would not be tolerated.
He advised parents and guardians to report any headteacher or school authority who demanded such fees from their wards to the nearest GES office.
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Recommended readings: Download all your GES letters in an editable form (WORD) for use
Read also: Stop collecting illegal end-of-term … – Ghana Education News
