By Yvonne Atilego
The National Association of Graduate Teachers, NAGRAT, has kicked against the date set for the National Standardized Test for Primary Four Pupils from December 17, 2021 to January, 2022.
They believe the date set for the exams will disrupt the academic calendar and disorganized schools and students in the country.
Speaking on ‘Behind the News’, Vice President of NAGRAT, Jacob Anaba said, changing the date of vacation for basic schools from December 10 to December 17 will not be appropriate for the academic calendar.
”The calendar of schools has changed at every twist and turn and this affects the planning, teaching and period assigned for every subject”, he noted.
Brief
The National Standards Test is in response to Ghana’s Education Strategic Plan from 2018 to 2030, which prioritizes improving learning outcomes at all levels by creating a national standards-based assessment at the pre-tertiary level, to measure the quality of learning achievements before the end of Junior High School.
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education has told Journalists in Accra that the national test will enable the Ministry of Education to generate data on the performance of pupils in English Language and Mathematics.
He said the test was to improve on teaching and learning in public basic schools and not to grade the pupils.
The Minister said it would enable them to generate data on how learners were meeting the expectations of the curriculum.
“It will help us identify what the learning gaps are that need to be addressed and analyze variations in learner achievement by region, gender, location and school type,” he added.
He said the test would be organized for only Public schools in Ghana.
The Ministry would however consider enrolling Private schools in future.