The West African Examinations Council has announced the 2015 International Excellence Award, with Ghana again leading Nigeria, among other West African countries, in the academic honours’ roll.
It was gathered that three Ghanaians from the same school, Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape Coast, emerged winners in the award for their outstanding performances in the May/June 2015 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.
They scored A1 in all their subjects.
Interestingly also, the three award winners are females. They are Jessica Quaye (first prize), Ruth Ewura-Ama Awadzi (second prize) and Danielle Amo-Mensah (third prize).
The management of WAEC honoured the trio during its 64th annual meeting held in Accra, Ghana, between March 15 and 18.
Quaye also won the Augustus Bandele Oyediran Award for the best candidate in West Africa.
With her performance, Ghanaians have emerged winners of the award between 2012 and 2015.
In the 2014 May/June WASSCE also, the three best scholars were all Ghanaians, with 18-year-old Mickail Hasan, who attended Ghana Secondary Technical School, emerging the overall winner.
The member countries of WAEC are The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
No fewer than 1,883,775 candidates sat for the 2015 May/June WASSCE.
Meanwhile, WAEC, on Tuesday, urged researches in the member countries to focus more on critical national issues, including examination malpractice, with a view to seeking solutions to the emerging trends.
In a statement signed by its Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Abiodun Aduloju, the council also appealed to the researchers and research institutions to endeavour to make their reports available to guide the member state governments in policy formulation and implementation.
The council, which advised Nigeria to continue to motivate the teachers in order to attract the best brains to the profession, also called for more training for them.
According to the council, the appeal has become imperative in order to sustain the newly-introduced trade subjects in the country’s school system, as well as improve candidates’ performance in them.