LET THERE BE PEACE AT NABPTEX

During this year’s Republic Day celebration, His Excellency, the President, asked senior citizens to be “Citizens and not Spectators.” I am therefore challenged by his words to comment on issues concerning NABPTEX, making rounds in some newspapers of late. 

As the first Executive Secretary and the one who brought NABPTEX from zero to its current position, I cannot sit and watch for the image of the organisation to continue to sink. When NABPTEX was established by the government in August 1995 with the inauguration of the governing board, no provision was made for office accommodation, and neither was it allocated any budget to recruit staff nor procure office equipment.

Prez Akufo Addo

 As a result, staff could not be recruited and between 1995 and 1997, I had to combine my job schedule at the Technical Examinations Unit and assist the Consultant for Polytechnic Affairs at the Ministry of Education, who was made the Interim Executive Secretary.

But when I became the Executive Secretary in 1997, I had to manage NABPTEX alone, assisted by a part-time Secretary, until June 2000 when three staff members could be recruited. During the fourteen years as the Executive Secretary, I was able to bring NABPTEX from nowhere to the international level. 

NABPTEX became a Primary Member of the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA), a member of the Association of Commonwealth Educational and Accreditation Bodies (ACEAB) and a member of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA). By joining these associations and actively participating in conferences and activities, NABPTEX qualifications gained international recognition. Besides, some staff members had training in Examination Bodies like: Cambridge Assessment Network in Cambridge, UK, Educational Testing Service in Princeton, USA and CITO in the Netherlands.

Executive Secretary, Nana Asante Bediatuo

However, of late, NABPTEX’s name has been in the news for the wrong reasons and the morale of the staff has gone down, all because of the appointment of someone who has no knowledge of, or experience in the conduct of examinations, as the Acting Executive Secretary. The appointment letter bears the signature of His Excellency, the President and I wonder how such an appointment could be made.

I believe His Excellency will like his administration to be very successful and would therefore not give positions to incompetent and unqualified persons. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t even qualify to be shortlisted for an interview to any position in an examination body, let alone becoming the head of the organisation. She is a typical example of the Proverbial “Square Peg in a Round Hole.”

The Secretariat is being run down. What is even worrying is that public perception about Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is already poor. The situation becomes even more serious when these negative perceptions affect the highest awarding body of TVET.

 Is this a reflection of how various governments of this country have perceived technical and vocational education? This cannot happen in WAEC (which is also an examination body), so why NABPTEX?

Equally disturbing is the fact that NABPTEX is known internationally in the comity of examination bodies by virtue of its membership of international examination bodies and foreign-based affiliate institutions. Back home in Ghana, NABPTEX is an accredited awarding body for Higher National Diploma (HND) and Competency-Based Training (CBT) programmes in the national TVET qualification framework. Its major stakeholders include external examiners (moderators and verifiers), academia, industry players and professional bodies.

NABTEX Governing Board being inaugurated

Another area of concern, as a regulatory body of tertiary education, is the quality of appointments to sensitive positions in the organisation. NABPTEX’s Scheme of Service clearly spells out the qualification of its staff, particularly to leadership positions from any of the Educational disciplines such as; Assessment/Measurement and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, Educational Psychology, Educational Management, etc.; to be able to perform its core duties and deliver on its mandate. 

In addition, the need to conduct serious background checks about the past records of prospective applicants is very important. Any appointment to the executive position without due considerations to these areas of expertise, experience in assessment practices, sufficient knowledge in the TVET and tertiary education system, together with any of these related issues, is likely to spell the doom of the organisation.

The head of every examination body is expected to be an expert in the field of examinations. The position is not for any administrator, but only for the one with expertise in the conduct and administration of examinations. 

When in 2002 NABPTEX decided to introduce its Grading System and polytechnic students went on strike for several weeks, and the then Minister for Education, Prof. Ameyaw Akumfi, set up a Committee that came out with a Grading System that allowed a student to obtain First Class without scoring a single “A” in any of the courses, it was I, the Executive Secretary at the time, who pointed it out to the Board and came out with a solution which is; the HND Grading System still in use. 

Should a similar situation arise, how can the Acting Executive Secretary identify the problem, let alone, finding a solution to it? If she were to attend any international conference, as the head of NABPTEX, what will be her contribution and what impression will the international community have on our qualifications?

I am therefore appealing to the Presidency, the Ministry of Education, the Public Services Commission, the NABPTEX Board and all those who matter, to get this appointment withdrawn, to save her and the whole nation a great embarrassment. The NABPTEX Secretariat has the personnel who have the training and experience to move the organisation forward.

BEN ANTWI-BOASIAKO
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, NABPTEX (1997 – 2011)