Ghana moving from Ghana-only WASSCE to international WASSCE – GES

The management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) says Ghana in 2026 will join the five-member countries of the West African Examinations Council to write the WASSCE for School in May/June.

The transition from the Ghana-only WASSCE to the international version of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination was communicated in a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Daniel Fenyí.

“As Ghana moves away from the Ghana-only WASSCE to take the international WASSCE, written by all West African member countries in May/June 2026, Management of GES admonishes students to prepare very well for the examination,” the statement read.

The Ghana Education Service indicated that it would continue to protect the integrity of the country’s examination system, adding that there would be no relaxation of rules or procedures. “Management of GES will not compromise the integrity of examinations,” Fenyí noted.

The Service, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education (MoE), assured the public that it will continue to collaborate with relevant institutions as the country prepares for the regional exam.

“GES will continue to work closely with all stakeholders, heads of schools, teachers, students, parents, communities, Civil Society Organisations and WAEC, to improve teaching and learning and the integrity of the examination,” the statement added.

The shift from Ghana-only WASSCE to International WASSCE comes after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 forced member countries of the West African Exams Council to reschedule the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from May/June to random dates.

Ghanaian candidates wrote the Ghana-only WASSCE because the other four-member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia — had returned to the May/June calendar and had administered the WASSCE for their school candidates.

The four countries streamlined their academic calendars to enable them to write the examination in May/June, as Ghana stuck to the ‘new normal’ calendar occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In 2022, the former Director-General of GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwah, announced that Ghana would revert to writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in May/June in 2024.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic newspaper, he explained that currently, Ghana was doing a gradual recovery, learning based on contact hours in the classroom, saying, “We are hoping that by 2024, we will have come up to the same level as the other member countries.

“That is why we said this year, the calendar that we put out was a transitional calendar. We are transitioning to go back to our old calendar when we start school from September/October and end in June/July the following year,” he explained in an interview with the newspaper.

Professor Opoku-Amankwah said Ghana will join the other four-member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia — who have returned to the May/June calendar.