Excerpt from Chapter 7 (pictures below)

The reputation of any school in the Gold Coast depended on how well the Standard 7 students performed in the Standard 7 Leaving Certificate Examination, which was conducted by the Department of Education with headquarters in Accra.

The reputation of any Standard 7 teacher also depended on how well the students performed in this important fnal examination.

In Obuasi, there was always a competition between the Standard 7 classes in St. Thomas Catholic School and the Methodist School.

Both schools often scored 100% in the examination. Generally the failure rate was very, very low.

The competition therefore often boiled down to what percentage of students got distinction certificates. To get a distinction certificate, a student was expected to score at least 80% in each of the four test papers in the examination. The four papers were:

1. Mental Arithmetic (similar to the “speed work”)
2. Arithmetic Problems (solve 5 out of 8 problems)
3. English Composition (essay writing)
4. General Subjects (history, civics, geography, hygiene, nature study)

Up to 1948, the exams were written in the court buildings on the top of a hill behind the railway station.

In 1949, the examination hall was moved to the new A.G.C. African Club, which was more spacious.

The day of the examination was an anxious and nervous one for the students as well as their parents. The exam started at 9:00 a.m…

Do Teachers Count? is available for purchase at Amazon for $14.99. Click here.

Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey