The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has indicated that it is awaiting the release of funds from the government to cover the costs of marking and releasing results for this year's West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

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Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Mr. John K. Kapi, said the government had given WAEC GHC10.5million to start with the BECE and conveyed that the prompt allocation of funds would streamline the examination processes.

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“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," he said.

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Mr. Kabi stated that the Council had a meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr Osei Adutwum, on September 25, 2023, where he acknowledged that the funds allocated to the Council were likely insufficient to cover the entire process and consequently instructed the Chief Director to take steps to secure additional funding.

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But according to Mr Kapi, “as we speak now, no money has hit our accounts yet."

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He mentioned that WAEC had completed its preparatory tasks for the marking process and that the Council would commence coordinating its examiners on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

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Mr. Kapi explained that between Wednesday, October 4, and Saturday, October 7, 2023, the coordination process with the examiners would be finalized, paving the way for the actual marking to commence on Monday, October 9, 2023.

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The Head of Public Affairs added that the Council had a total of over 22,000 examiners who would need to be compensated.

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“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.

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“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.”

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Mr. Kapi emphasized that the release of the results hinged on the government's allocation of funds.

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He said the Council was looking at releasing the results of BECE in the last 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”.

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