File photo: Pupils writing exam

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has opened investigations into an alleged malpractice recorded in the Offinso South Municipality of the Ashanti Region during Monday’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

A four-member committee, chaired by a director in charge of finance at the GES, has been set up to investigate nine teachers linked to the case.

The teachers and a headteacher were arrested at the Dwamena Akenten M/A JHS examination centre after they were spotted desperately solving the objective part of the Social Studies paper in the morning.

“The committee has begun sittings. Statements have already been taken from them and so by close of day the committee would have finished its work and when they are found culpable they would face the appropriate sanctions,” a source told dailymailgh.com.

Immediate action

The source further noted that all teachers across the Offinso Municipality have been barred from entering examination centres. GES officials have also been asked to monitor the centers as part of efforts to curb such practices.

“We have accredited headteachers who will organise and bring the candidates to the centre but when they arrive they are asked to leave the centre”, the source further stated adding: “security has been beefed up in all the areas”.

Other arrests

The development brings the number of arrests reported in the ongoing exam to 12, after a similar case happened at the Senase R/C Basic School in Berekum in the Bono Region.

An official statement from the West African Examination Council is yet to to be released on the matter.