Education Minister Sackey Moves to Address Withheld WAEC Results of Visually Impaired Candidates
Aminata Koroma The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Conrad Sackey, has pledged to ensure that visually impaired pupils receive the necessary support and reasonable adjustments to enable them to successfully sit and pass their examinations.
Speaking during a recent media engagement, Minister Sackey recalled an incident three years ago when a group of visually impaired pupils visited his office and informed him that they had failed to gain admission to university for four consecutive years.
He said he subsequently engaged the Chief Education Officer to investigate the situation, during which two key issues emerged.
According to the Minister, one of the major challenges was that some schools with visually impaired pupils were not disclosing their disabilities to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). As a result, WAEC was unable to make the necessary provisions for the pupils because it was not aware of their conditions.
To address the issue, Sackey said the Ministry engaged WAEC to ensure that schools disclose the disabilities of pupils during the examination registration process, allowing the examination body to make appropriate arrangements.
He noted that following the intervention, the same group of pupils later returned to his office to inform him that they had successfully passed their examinations.
Addressing concerns surrounding the withheld results of visually impaired candidates, the Minister said he would alert the Chief Education Officer to pay particular attention to such cases when serving on the relevant committee.
He stressed that the Ministry has a responsibility to ensure that visually impaired pupils are given the necessary support and reasonable adjustments to enable them to compete fairly and succeed in their examinations.