Code & Guidelines

CODE AND GUIDELINES
FOR LICENSURE EXAMINATION FOR ALLIED HEALTH
PROFESSIONALS
OCTOBER, 2019

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONS COUNCIL
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
IMPORTANT NOTICE

Preamble

The Allied Health Professionals Council by its mandate conducts Licensure Examination for Allied Health Professionals. Being conscious of the fact that some irregularities can occur in the conduct of such Examination which can seriously damage public confidence in the validity, credibility and legitimacy of examination and assessment, the Council is poised to deal with such irregularities as a matter of urgency within established reasonable administrative and legal framework in Ghana.
The intent of presenting this material is to:
i. Explain or clarify the concept of examination irregularities
ii. Inform and educate all relevant stakeholders
iii. Outline appropriate sanctions that go with the identified examination irregularities.
These Examination Guidelines were developed with consultations and collaborations with Stakeholders and also wish to acknowledge the immense contribution and support received from the Nurses and Midwifery Council and Ghana Optometrist Association for which we are very grateful.

 

Mandate

The Allied Health Professionals Council is an agency of the Ministry of Health. The Council
is a statutory body established by the Part One of the Health Professions Regulatory
Bodies Act 857 of 2013.
Statutorily, “The Council is concerned with the Allied Health Professions and, in particular, with the organization of the training and education of Allied Health Professionals, and the maintenance and promotion of standards of professional conduct and efficiency.”
Specifically, the Council is responsible for:
1. The establishment of a system of training of Allied Health Professionals
2. The accreditation of courses of instruction for Allied Health Professions
3. Prescribing the conditions for registration of Allied Health Professions and for
granting of certificates and PINs to qualified Allied Health Professionals
4. The selection of the subjects in which persons seeking to qualify as Allied Health
Professionals may be examined
5. The examination of student Allied Health Professionals including auxiliaries (for their Professional licensing).
In addition to the above mandate, the other responsibilities and duties of the Council include the following: –
1. Verification of registration/licensing (foreign and local)
2. Orientation of foreign-trained Allied Health Professionals into the Ghanaian setting
3. Support supervision of Allied Health Professionals in both public and private health
facilities
4. Inspection and monitoring of Allied Health Professions training schools and health
facilities for the purposes of accreditation.

Modality for Examinations

1. Advertisement on the Examinations including the examination dates, fees, specified
Centres and all other necessary information would be put out before the July 31, July of each year
2. Prospective candidates would be those who have successfully completed the internship programme in September and have submitted all assessment forms to the Council by the close of October. The examination will also involve Students from Certificate Awarding Institutions who do not undertake NSS/Internship programme. This will allow the qualified Candidates the opportunity to be registered and gazette by January 31 preceding year.
3. Examinations will be conducted immediately after the Internship and the results declared by the end of as soon as practicable
4. Examination questions would be vetted by Moderators appointed by the Committee in
consultation with the relevant professional groups.
5. The Examination Centers will be Kumasi, Tamale and Accra and any other Center that the
Council may decide.
6. The examination may be held on any day of the week as the Council may deem fit
7. The format for the examination would be generally agreed upon by the Council and
will consist of the following, Viva, Multiple Choice Questions MCQs), Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) or multi-methods. The content of the questions should be relevant and practical in nature.

Conduct of the Examination

1. It is the responsibility of the candidate to find the examination hall well in advance
and to be seated, at least, fifteen (15) minutes before the commencement of any examination paper.
2. It shall be the responsibility of the candidate to ensure that he/she is given the right
question paper and other materials needed for the examination.
3. No candidate shall enter the Examination Hall until he/she is invited to enter the
Examination Hall. A candidate arriving late may be refused entry to the Examination Hall. Normally no candidate will be allowed to leave the examination room during the first half-hour of the period allowed for a paper or enter the examination room after the half-hour. Any exception to this rule must be approved by the Invigilator.
4. No books, prepared notes, paper of any kind, hand-bags, briefcases or any other
prohibited material are to be taken into the examination room unless otherwise specified.
5. No programmable calculator, mobile phone, radio, or any other communication
equipment or media are to be taken into the examination room or washroom of the Examination Centre.
6. It shall be the responsibility of the candidate to provide for himself/herself a pen,
pencil, and an eraser as needed. A candidate shall not be allowed to borrow any material from another candidate in the examination room.
7. Candidates are required to write their index numbers in full on every page of the
script.
8. Under no circumstances must a candidate’s name be written on any part of the answer
book provided. Candidates who fail to comply with this regulation will have his/her results cancelled
9. Candidates may be required, at any time, to establish their identity by producing any
National photo ID card and an ID from the former School/Institution. A candidate without a valid photo ID will not be disqualified.
10. A candidate who is suspected of hiding unauthorized material on his/her body may be subjected to a body search. Refusal to submit to a body search is tantamount to misconduct which shall result in cancellation of his/her paper.
11. Any candidate leaving the examination room and intending to return must be accompanied, while outside the examination room, by an attendant.
12. There should be no communication whatsoever (verbal or non-verbal) between candidates during the examination. A candidate may attract the attention of the invigilator by raising a hand.
13. Any irregular conduct on the part of a candidate, such as copying from another candidate or from prepared notes, may result in the cancellation of his/her examination paper.
14. No part of an answer booklet or script may be torn off and candidates must surrender
any answer booklet used or unused to an invigilator before leaving the examination hall.
15. Rough work must be done in the answer booklet and should be crossed out to show
that it is not part of the answer.
16. Candidates should not remove from the examination room any unused material (e.g.
answer booklets or parts thereof, supplementary answer sheets, graph sheets, drawing paper) supplied for the examination. Candidates may, however, retain their question papers unless the rules state otherwise.
17. A candidate who finishes an examination ahead of time may leave the examination
room after surrendering his/her answers booklet(s). The candidate shall not be allowed to return to the examination room
18. A candidate who fails to present himself/herself at an examination without satisfactory reason(s) shall be deemed to have failed the examination.
19. Smoking or drinking of alcoholic beverages is not allowed in the Examination Hall.
20. A breach of any of the foregoing regulations, when the penalty is not specified, made
for the conduct of professional examinations, may attract one or more of the following sanctions:
a. A reprimand
b. Loss of marks
c. Withholding of results for a period
d. Cancellation of results
e. Criminal prosecution
Further to point 20, Grade F (Fail) shall be awarded whenever it is established that a candidate had
attempted to gain an unfair advantage in an examination. Further sanctions may include:
a. Being barred from professional examinations indefinitely

Rules and Regulations for Dealing with Cases of Irregularity at the Council’s Licensing Examinations

1. Bringing Foreign Material
a. Where a candidate commits an offence such as bringing into the Examination Hall
notes, textbooks, prepared materials or any other printed material, the candidate’s results in the examination shall be withheld pending cancellation of the subject result by the appropriate Committee of the Council.
b. Where a candidate commits an offence such as bringing into the Examination Hall
without prior authorization, a blank piece of paper intended to give the candidate undue
advantage, the result of the candidate in the subject involved shall be cancelled.
c. Where a candidate commits an offence such as bringing into an Examination Hall a
programmable calculator, a mobile phone or any other electronic communication device, to gain unfair advantage, the results of the candidate shall be cancelled. In addition, the
candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.

2. Irregular Activities Inside or Outside the Examination Hall
a. Where a candidate is apprehended for offence(s) such as those listed below inside or
outside the examination hall, the candidate’s results in the entire examination shall be withheld pending cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of the Council. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
i. Stealing, converting or misappropriating the scripts of other candidates.
ii. Substituting worked scripts during or after the examination.
iii. Seeking or receiving help from non-candidates such as
Invigilators/Supervisors/inspectors, Tutors, Lecturers, Principals, Clinicians or
other personalities during the examination.
b. Where the person offering help is not a candidate for the current examination but a
prospective candidate, he/she shall be barred from taking any examination conducted
by the Council for two consecutive times and will also be reported to the appropriate authority for disciplinary action. For a practicing Allied Health Profession practicing and any other person, he/she shall be reported to the appropriate authority for disciplinary action. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
c. Where the candidate is caught for an offence(s) such as those listed below inside or
outside examination hall, the candidate’s results in the subject(s) involved shall be withheld pending cancellation of the subject results by the appropriate Committee of the Council. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
I. Tearing part of the question paper or answer booklet during the examination.
II. Refusing to submit worked scripts to the Invigilator after the examinations.
III. Other irregular activities within the immediate environment of the
examination hall before, during or after the examination.
IV. Where a candidate starts writing an examination before commencement of
work is officially announced OR continues writing after official orders have
been given for candidates to stop work.

3. Collusion
a. Where the candidate is caught during the examination passing notes for the help from
other candidates, receiving or giving assistance, talking with or colluding in certain manner with other candidates, the candidate’s entire results shall be withheld pending the cancellation of the result of the subject involved by the appropriate committee of
the Council.
b. Where cases of cheating are detected in scripts and/or otherwise established in one paper, the
result of the subject involved shall be cancelled.
c. Where a candidate is proved to have cheated in more than one paper/subject, his/her
results in those subjects shall be cancelled. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
The Council reserves the right to publish the names of persons involved. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.

4. Impersonation
Where a person is caught impersonating a candidate, he/she shall be handed over to the police for prosecution. The entire results of the person being impersonated and those of the impersonator, if he/she is also a candidate for any Licensing examination, shall be withheld pending cancellation by the appropriate Committee of the Council.

5. Leakage
a. Where cases of leakage are established in a center/subject, the entire results of
the candidates offering the subject(s) at the center shall be withheld pending
the cancellation of the subject(s) results for the Centre by the appropriate Committee of Council. The results of any candidates who are found innocent by the Council shall be released.
b. Candidates proved to have been involved in the leakage of any subject in
which leakage has been established shall have their entire results withheld pending the cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of Council.
c. Where it is established that the school authorities condoned, connived, and/or
encouraged the leakage, the entire results of the candidates at the Centre shall
be withheld pending cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of the Council. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
d. Where any listed cases in 5(a), 5(b), 5(c) above is established, the school(s) or
Centre shall be de-recognized in accordance with rule 6 below.

6. Mass Cheating
a. Where more than half of the candidates in the Centre/ subject are involved in
collusion or other forms of examination malpractices, this shall be regarded as
mass cheating.
b. Where there are established cases of mass cheating in a Centre/subject, the entire results of the Centre/subject shall be withheld pending cancellation of the subject results for those confirmed to have cheated. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
c. De-recognition implies that;
An Examination Center shall be de-recognized for a stated period if;
i. Mass cheating is established.
ii. The appropriate Committee of the Council is satisfied that an Examination Center cannot ensure the satisfactory conduct of the council’s licensing examinations.
d. Notwithstanding 6(d) above, recognition may be restored upon a written
assurance from the administering authority of the Examination Center that the
prescribed requirements have been satisfied. Such assurance shall contain details of measures being taken to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the licensing examinations, including measures which shall be subject to acceptance by the Council. Recognition, however, will only be restored after at least one year of de-recognition.

7. Insult/Assault on Supervisors/Invigilators/Inspectors
a. Where a candidate(s) insults or assaults a Supervisor/ Invigilator in the lawful
performance of his/her duties inside or outside the examination Centre, or in any other way disturbs the conduct of the examination the entire results of the candidate(s) shall be withheld pending cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of the Council. The candidate may be handed over to the police for prosecution. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
b. Where a candidate brings into the examination Centre or uses anything including
chemical substance with intent to cause injury, temporary or permanent incapacity to
any authorized person in the examination Centre including other candidates, the results of the candidate shall be withheld pending cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of the Council. In addition, the candidate shall be barred from sitting for the examination for two (2) consecutive times.
Contravention of (b) shall not preclude legal action being taken against the candidate by the Council or Individual concerned.

8. Contravention of Instructions to Candidates
a. Where a candidate, in contravention of Instructions to Candidates, writes with pencil
instead of ink or shades with ink instead of pencil or writes his/her responses to the test items at the wrong place(s), his/her results shall be withheld pending cancellation of his/her subject results by the appropriate Committee of the Council.
b. Where a candidate fails to complete the cover page of his/her answer booklet as
specified in the instructions, his/her results shall be withheld pending cancellation of his/her subject results by the appropriate Committee of the Council.

9. New Cases
As new cases arise which are not covered by the above rules, the appropriate Committee of Council shall take necessary action.
Review
These rules shall be subject to review as and when necessary by the Examination Committee in Consultation with the Stakeholders and approved by the Council.

10. Further Information
The Council welcomes suggestions and comments for consideration in its periodic review of this document “Rules and Regulations for dealing with Licensing Examination Irregularities.” Such suggestions and comments should be sent to:

The Registrar
Allied Health Professions Council
P.O KB 943
Korle-Bu
Tel: 233 0302 690735/ 690737
Email: registrar@ahpcghana.org

References
1. American Board of Emergency Medicine. (2004). Policy on Examination
Irregularities. ABEM. March 2004.
2. Gauteng Department of Education. (2005). Irregularity Report. 10 Directorate of Examination and Assessment. Unpublished. 2005
3. Michigan Department of Education. 2005. Professional Assessment and Accountability Practices for Educators. Michigan Department of Education. August 2005.
4. Part One of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act 857 of 2013.
5. NMC Examination Code and Guidelines.
6 . The World Bank Group. (2001). Public Examination System: Topics – Malpractice.
The World Bank Group. 2001.
http.//www.worldbank.org.education/exams/malpractice/asp.
7. The West African Examinations Council. Rules on Examinations

October 02, 2019
Issued on behalf of the Council by
Dr. Samuel Yaw Opoku
Registrar