2020/21 WASSCE Pasco contract sole-sourced – Education Minister
The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says the central government used sole-source procurement to purchase the WASSCE for School past questions for Senior High School students in the 2020 and 2021 academic year.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, he explained that the government “procured 446,954 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) questions from Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of GH¢78.00.
The sole-sourced procurement for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) past questions for the 2020/2021 candidates, the Education Minister indicated was funded from the Free Senior High School account.
“To help prepare the final year Senior High School students for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Ministry has procured 446,954 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) questions from Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of GH¢78.00. The procurement will be funded from the Free Senior High School Account.
Mr Speaker, in 2020, the government through its efforts to help students amidst COVID-19 to prepare for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) procured 568,755 past questions for students to try their hands on before sitting for the actual exams.”
The Ministry of Education contracted Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery to supply 568,755 WASSCE past questions at a contract price of GHS 33,641,043.75.
The procurement of these questions was funded through the Free Senior High School Account and the results of the 2020 WASSCE were tremendous compared to previous years’ WASSCE for School performance
Mr. Speaker, the procurement process for the supply of published textbooks to Basic Schools is currently ongoing. The Ministry placed an advert in the Ghanaian Times on 1st June 2020, where various publishers approved by NaCCA, submitted their books and relevant documents to be taken through a Pre-Qualification procurement process,” he told Parliament.
In a 2021 briefing to Parliament, Adutwum said the government in 2020 and 2021 year spent a total of GH¢68 million to procure over one million past questions and answers booklet also known as ‘Pasco’ for the WASSCE candidates