WAEC gives date to break for Christmas after postponing 2024 WASSCE results release

The management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) following the postponement of the release of the 2024 WASSCE for Schoo results has scheduled December 20, 2024, to break for this year’s Christmas festive season.

The Head of Public Affairs at West African Examinations Council, John Kapi announced the 2024 Christmas break date for his outfit in an interview with an Accra-based radio station. monitored by GhanaEducation.org.

Describing the postponement of the 2024 WASSCE results earlier slated to be released in the second week of December 2024 as concerning, he said WAEC has never faced such frustration, leading to a delay in the release of WASSCE results.

He said though the office is breaking for Christmas on December 20, 2024, however, when the funds are released by the central government they will have to call the staff for them to come back to the office to work towards the release of the examination results.

John explained that the government owes WAEC approximately GH₵118 million saying the situation is further complicated by the need for GH₵25 million to repair malfunctioning scanners essential for processing objective test results.

With less than two weeks left in 2024, the spokesperson for the not-for-profit-making organization (WAEC) stated that, due to these financial challenges, there is no specific date for the release of the 2024 WASSCE for School results.

In an interview with Adom News, John Kapi, exclusively revealed that the Examinations Council despite its appeal has not yet received the arrears owed by the government for conducting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School.

In a separate interview with Citi FM, he explained that the results remain unavailable due to unresolved financial obligations owed to technicians responsible for maintaining critical equipment needed for the examination process.

“The results are not ready. We issued a statement earlier highlighting some of the challenges we are currently facing. Unfortunately, these challenges persist because we have not been able to secure the necessary funds to address them,” Mr. Kapi stated during the interview.

The WAEC official further disclosed that technicians tasked with repairing the scanners used for parking the WASSCE objective sheets have suspended their services due to an outstanding debt of GH₵25 million owed to them by WAEC.

“We needed to repair our scanners because we owe the technicians GH¢25 million and they have withdrawn their services until we make some financial commitments.

Private schools pay their fees but the government pays for candidates in public schools, and so until the monies are paid, we are unable to release the results,” the Council’s spokesperson told Accra-based Citi FM.

The West African Examinations Council on August 5, 2024, commenced the administration of the 2024 edition of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates and ended it on Friday, September 20, 2024.

A total of 460,611 candidates made up of 212,954 boys and 247,657 girls, presented by 1,003 second-cycle schools registered for the examination. The 2024 WASSCE for School was administrated at 1,000 centres across the country.