The Legal Assistance Network – Ghana (GLAN) is calling on the Ministry of Health to help suspend first year students of the SDA Nursing and Midwifery Training College-Asanta, in the Western Region of Ghana.
According to GLAN, the school’s authority noticed that a male Tutor leaked the Anatomy examination question to a young girl in the school and as a result of WhatsApp communication available to the students, the exam questions went viral.
The situation, GLAN said resulted in most students allegedly having knowledge of the examination questions.
Practically, GLAN noted that the school’s authority had no knowledge of the leakage but what brought the issue to the fore was that, a group of students unfortunately wrote answers to the leaked questions on some foreign materials and sent to the examination hall and were caught with the foreign material with the answers.
It said the students were rightfully apprehended and an investigation into their action started immediately.
However, GLAN stated that it was during the investigation that it was revealed that the questions were leaked by a male tutor to a girl and it went it viral.
Meanwhile, it stated that the apprehended students started mentioning names of their colleagues who may have seen the questions but most of them deleted the questions before they could be found on their phones.
Due to that, the Disciplinary Committee could not clearly gather the evidence they needed.
“The school initially complied with the rules found in the Students’ Handbook which states on page (51)? that when a student engages in examination malpractice for the first time in the school, the punishment is the cancellation of the results. (“Cancellation of written paper affected”) Since the students affected were first year students and there is no record of them engaging in any examination malpractice, it stands to reason that the obvious punishment for the offence is the cancellation of their results which the school did,” GLAN stated.
It added that, “It is also the facts that after the students’ exams were cancelled; the school set new questions for the Students which they participated in.”
Unfortunately, GLAN said during the pendency of the exams, the students saw the Secretary of the school distributing letters to the students in the examination hall which turned out to be suspension letters to some students for a year.
“It is important to state that this extra punishment suspending the students is not prescribed by the rules and has no basis in the students’ Handbook” it stated.
GLAN added that, “It is in this vein that we call on your good office to step in and assist the students, some of whom are completely innocent to return to school in July, 2021 when the academic year of the school resumes.”
GLAN also apologised on behalf of the students and assured that it will also avail itself for ideas on other innovative ways of punishment without compromising the intellectual resources of the nation.
