90% of students will be English fluent after NST – Dr Adutwum

90 per cent of primary students are estimated to be English fluent after the conduct of the National Standardised Test aimed to improve learning outcomes and reduce learning poverty, the Minister for Education, Dr Adutwum has said.

The Education Minister made the comment while speaking at the 4th edition of the National Education Week Program under the theme “Reimagining education for national transformation” monitored by AcademicWeek.com.

He at the program said the central government had tasked the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to administer the National Standardised examination for selected primary school students across the country.

“So after the conduct of the Test by the WAEC, we expect over 90% of primary four students in the country to be proficient in English, We expect 90% to move on to high school, 90% to move on to university” Dr Adutwum stated.

The newly introduced Standardised examination, Hon Osei Yaw said is to drastically reduce learning poverty he disclosed that has increased among prospective students in the country amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Test is to evaluate the primary 4 students on whether they can read or not and this will also help the government to see the challenges that are confronting the country’s education sector,” the Minister in charge of Education said.

A sample of the Standardised Test questions the Bosomtwe lawmaker said will be sent to district directors for onward distribution to heads of schools before the commencement of the national examination scheduled for late this year.

According to Mr Adutwum, the results of the national test in mathematics and literacy will be given to every single parent to monitor the progress of their wards. The results he said will be available on a website for public access.

“We have a dashboard coming that will allow the Education Minister to log in and see the attendance of every district, to see how every district is doing and the results will be on the dashboard,” the Education Minister noted.

This academic year, a total of 750,000 primary two and four learners in public and some private schools participated in the 2022 edition of the National Standardized Test (NST) in literacy and numeracy from 5th to 16th December 2022.

Speaking to journalists during his visit to some schools who took the examination, Adutwum said the NST is intended to generate data at the national level on how well our Primary 2 and 4 learners are doing in Literacy and Numeracy.

The Minister in charge of Education also said the National Standardised Test will also provide information to decide on which schools and districts need specific interventions for immediate support from the central government