Less than 8% of private schools wrote 2022 NST – EduWatch

Less than 8 per cent of private schools across the country participated in the just-ended 2022 National Standardised Test conducted for government and private school students in mid-December, Africa Education Watch has claimed.

In a social media post sighted by AcademicWeek.com, the Executive Director of the Education think tank said “less than 8% of private schools wrote the 2022 National Standardized Test for primary four students Unacceptable.”

The Education Policy Research and Advocacy Organization’s (EduWatch) findings come after it Sunday, December 18, 2022, review of the 2022 edition of the National Standardised examination on Zoom with teachers and stakeholders.

The review of the conduct of the 2022 Test for public and private primary two and four students Africa Education Watch described as poor was to find effective ways the national examination can be improved next academic year.

Introduced in 2021, the Acting Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Eric Nkansah says the results of the Standardized Test will generate data at the national level and identify the learning gaps that need to be addressed.

In addition, the Director-General of the Education Service (GES) said the National Standardised Test (NST) will provide data to identify and analyse variations in learner achievement by region, gender, location and school type.

Dr Eric Nkansah made the comment when he visited some basic schools within the Korle Klottey Municipal in the Greater Accra Region and Oforikrom Municipal in Ashanti Region on 5th and 9th December 2022.

This year’s National Standardised Test (NST) was administered to all primary two and primary four pupils in public and some private schools in the country from 5th to 15th December 2022.

The date for the conduct of the national examination for basic four students however was postponed by the management of the Ghana Education Service from December 15, 2022, to December 16, 2022.

In a statement copied to AcademicWeek.com, the Private Schools Council said the postponement of the basic four students’ national examination date is to address all registration challenges before the administration on Friday.

“All schools registered for this national exercise (those on time and late) will be administered, therefore all registration challenges are being addressed before the administration of the on Friday,” GNACOPS said in the press release.

The management of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) continued that “all schools already on vacation must arrange with parents for the affected pupils to report to school on Friday to sit for the Test.”