WAEC Has No Excuse to Delay the 2025 WASSCE Results: A Critical Look at Years of Failure

WAEC Has No Justification for Delaying the 2025 WASSCE Results: Ghanaian Students Deserve Better.

For half a decade, Ghanaian students have watched WAEC repeatedly miss its own timelines for releasing WASSCE results. From 2020 through 2024, every cohort suffered uncertainty, stress, and academic disruption because WAEC failed to deliver results on time. As the country awaits the 2025 WASSCE for School Candidates, the West African Examinations Council must be reminded that none of its previous excuses hold up anymore. Ghana’s education system has been patient, but that patience has expired. WAEC has run out of reasons—and this time, the country will not accept another delay.

A History of Delays WAEC Can No Longer Deny

The pattern is undeniable. In 2020, WAEC released the provisional results on 13 November, long after the traditional timeline, while withholding results for more than 60,000 candidates from 122 schools. The 2021 results came out on 8 December, followed by the 2022 release on 1 December. In 2023, WAEC missed its projected window again and published results on 19 December. By 2024, the Council promised to release results between 9 and 15 December but failed to meet either date, eventually publishing the provisional results only on 30 December 2024. Even then, thousands of withheld results were released as late as 28 February 2025.

These dates reveal a systemic pattern of operational failure—not isolated incidents. WAEC has created a culture of delayed delivery, and the consequences have fallen squarely on the shoulders of students.

Malpractice Investigations Are No Longer a Credible Excuse

For years, WAEC has blamed delays on the supposed surge in examination malpractice. Ghana saw this narrative peak in 2020 when more than 60,000 results were withheld. A year later, 3,667 results faced the same fate. These investigations have repeatedly slowed down result processing and created panic among candidates and schools.

However, after five consecutive years of citing malpractice, WAEC cannot continue presenting this as an unexpected or uncontrollable obstacle. The Council has had more than enough time to strengthen its security systems, train invigilators, improve digital monitoring mechanisms, and streamline its investigative process. If malpractice is still overwhelming the system in 2025, it reflects WAEC’s failure—not the candidates’.

The Ghanaian public will no longer accept “investigations” as the default explanation for delayed results.

The Technical Breakdown Justification Expired After 2024

One of the most frustrating excuses emerged in 2024 when WAEC admitted that specialized answer-sheet scanners had broken down, halting the processing of multiple-choice scripts. This technical failure was cited as a major reason for the delayed release.

Yet WAEC knew about its failing equipment as far back as November 2024. The Council openly admitted this, and the issue was widely reported. Moreover, this was not a sudden emergency. It was the direct result of poor maintenance planning, lack of redundancy, and failure to invest in critical infrastructure.

By the end of 2024, government allocated GH¢25 million to WAEC to support operations, including infrastructure repair and result processing. After receiving this financial boost, WAEC cannot reasonably claim that technical breakdowns are still hampering its operations in 2025.

If scanners or systems fail again, it will only confirm widespread fears that WAEC suffers from chronic mismanagement.

Funding Issues Can No Longer Be Used as Cover

In 2024, WAEC also pointed to a government debt of GH¢118 million as a factor affecting its operations and delaying results. The narrative suggested that WAEC was financially incapacitated, unable to pay technicians or repair essential machines.

But that excuse died the moment government released funds to support the Council before the year ended. With the injection of GH¢25 million from the Ministry of Education and the partial settlement of outstanding debts, WAEC entered 2025 with renewed financial strength and zero justification for further operational inefficiency.

If WAEC cites financial challenges again in 2025, it will raise serious concerns about transparency, budget management, and accountability within the institution.

COVID-19 Is No Longer Relevant to WAEC’s Delays

WAEC frequently referenced the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 to explain its disrupted timelines. But by 2022, Ghana’s academic calendar had stabilized. The 2023 WASSCE ran from 31 July to September, and the 2024 edition was conducted smoothly from 5 August to 20 September.

In other words, the pandemic has not been a relevant factor for years. Using COVID-19 as a justification in 2025 would be irresponsible and unprofessional. All sectors of education—basic, secondary and tertiary—returned to full operation long ago. WAEC itself has returned to normal scheduling. Any operational difficulty in 2025 must therefore be attributed to internal inefficiencies, not global crises.

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The 2025 Candidates Cannot Be Victims of Another Institutional Failure

Ghana cannot afford another nationwide delay. Thousands of students depend on the 2025 WASSCE results for university admissions, scholarship applications, study-abroad opportunities, and job placements. Delays disrupt the academic calendar, strain parents financially, and create emotional distress for candidates.

WAEC has had five years of lessons, five years of public pressure, five years of funding interventions, and five years of excuses. If the Council still cannot release results on time in 2025, then the conversation must shift from criticism to reform. No national examination body should operate without accountability. No institution should repeatedly disrupt the lives of over 400,000 students annually without consequences.

WAEC Must Deliver the 2025 Results on Time—No Excuses, No Extensions

It is time for WAEC to demonstrate competence. It is time to show that the lessons of 2020–2024 were not wasted. It is time to rebuild public trust.

Ghana demands timely release of the 2025 WASSCE results for School Candidates.

Not later.
Not delayed.
Not withheld for months.
Not hidden behind excuses.

If WAEC fails again, then the calls for a restructured, regulated, or entirely new examination body will become not only justified but inevitable.