First National Standardised Test for B4 Underway in Ghana

The first ever National Standardised Test for Basic 4 pupils has started late across the country.

Apart from the late start of the examination at a few centres in the Northern Region, no major irregularity was recorded an hour into the examination. 

A total of 561,595 Primary 4 Public School pupils are writing the examination today, Friday, December 17, 2021 involving 15,911 schools in 2,609 Examination centres nationwide. An average of 200 pupils per centre.

The Director General, Prof Kwasi Opoku Amankwa monitored the conduct of the test in some Districts in the Greater Accra Region.

The test, according to the Ministry of Education, is to help generate data on the performance of pupils in English Language and Mathematics and also to know the performance of students with regards to the new curriculum introduced.

Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, at an earlier press conference, indicated that the test will help "identify what the learning gaps are that need to be addressed and analyse variations in learner achievement by region, gender, location and school type."

He added that the ministry was focusing on public schools due to the numbers, but plans were also being made to rope in private schools in future.

The first paper, Numeracy, which begins at 11:am and ends at 12:15pm whiles the second paper, Literacy, will begin at 12:45 pm and end at 2:00pm.