The fees for BECE and WASSCE under Free SHS are free

The Minister for Education has announced that the fees for BECE and WASSCE are free under the Free Fees for School Examinations program. This means that the BECE and WASSCE examinations, which are conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for final-year students in government Junior and Senior High Schools, are free.

Under the Free Senior High School policy, the education minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, says that all registration and other examination costs used to be incurred by the parents of candidates have been absorbed by the government.

The Minister of Education and Bosomtwe Member of Parliament said in the interview that the central government’s absorption of the BECE and WASSCE fees forms part of an effort to ensure quality education.

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The examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) program are free, while BECE is also free and WASSCE is also free, as stated by the Minister in Charge of Education on the Dwaso Nsem show on Adom FM.

Dr. Adutwum expressed his opinion regarding the conduct of the upcoming examinations, stating that his organization, in collaboration with the non-profit organization (WAEC), will randomly select questions for the 2024 national and international examinations.

The Minister of Education has informed that prospective candidates in the country who intend to participate in any of the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) School examinations may soon be required to answer diverse questions on identical subjects.

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Honourable Adutwum indicated the new strategy is part of several measures put in place by the Council responsible for the conduct of BECE and WASSCE to curb examination malpractices at every level, particularly in the exam hall.

In a related development, Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has said some public heads of Senior High Schools are demanding registration fees for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates.

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Despite the government’s absorption of the 2024 WASSCE registration fees, the Director of EduWatch in a social media post said some second-cycle schools allegedly are levying students up to GH₵700 for the International examination.

“This year, the government is spending about GH₵170 million on WASSCE Registration, including written, oral and practical papers under free SHS. Meanwhile, some SHS are allegedly demanding up to GHC 700 for WASSCE,” he said.e SHS are free – MoE