The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has expressed its anticipation of receiving funds from the government to facilitate the marking and subsequent release of results for this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).
Mr. John K. Kapi, Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, conveyed this expectation, emphasizing that the prompt release of these funds would expedite the examination processes.
He mentioned that the Government had initially allocated GHC10.5 million to WAEC to commence with the BECE adding, “that is what we have used for the examination. Now that the examination is over, we expect the release of some monies to be able to go through the marking process and the release of the results.”
Mr. Kapi explained that the Council had a meeting with the Minister of Education on September 25, 2023. During the meeting, the Minister acknowledged that the funds initially allocated to the Council were insufficient for the entire process. As a result, the Minister had instructed the Chief Director to take steps towards releasing additional funds.
“As we speak now, no money has hit our accounts yet,” he added.
Mr. Kapi indicated that WAEC had already completed its preparatory activities for the marking process and the Council would initiate the coordination of its examiners on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.
He mentioned that between October 4 and October 7, 2023, the coordination process with examiners would be finalized, and the actual marking would commence on Monday, October 9, 2023.
He further disclosed that the Council had a significant number of over 22,000 examiners to compensate for their services.
“The fear we have now is that if the government does not release funds, we may not be able to complete the process and what it means is that we may not be able to pay the examiners. We have made this clear to government and we hope that government keep the promise to release funds to enable us to complete the process,” he said.
Mr. Kapi emphasized that the release of the results hinged on the timely disbursement of funds by the Government.
He stated that the Council was aiming to make the results of the BECE available in the final week of October 2023, adding that “as soon as we are done with the swapping of the regions in respect of WASSCE, then marking will start”.
