The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has revealed that it will use drones to dispatch question papers for this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to hard-to-reach areas across the country.

The 2024 BECE is set to start on Monday, July 8, and will conclude on July 12. A total of 569,095 candidates, comprising 282,648 males and 286,447 females from 19,506 schools, have registered for the examination.

In an interview on TV3's late news monitored by Kasapafmonline.com on Friday night, the Director of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, said the Council has contracted Zipline to fly the examination papers to Sekyere Afram Plains in the Ashanti Region, where the roads have been rendered impassable due to the onset of the rains.

"As a Council, we've identified some areas that are difficult to access. For example, in Sekyere Afram Plains, where they would usually have picked up their question papers from Mampong Ashanti, we are informed that with the onset of the rains, the roads have been cut off again. Therefore, we are resorting to the use of drones operated by Zipline. It takes about 40 minutes from the launch of the drone to its landing at Anyinofi. We have about 48 candidates there, so arrangements have been made for Zipline to deliver the questions to them by drone. In addition, we've established examination depots throughout the country for the storage of confidential materials (question papers) to ensure that individuals can readily access the depots and return to the venues to start the examination on time," he explained.

However, the Director of Public Affairs was unable to specify how much WAEC will spend on the drone service.

"Typically, they will submit an invoice after the exercise. As we speak, they are just about to start. We are not certain how many times we will need to use the drone service, so we are waiting to complete the exercise before submitting an invoice for payment," Kapi noted.

When asked why WAEC, which is financially constrained and owed substantial amounts by the government, would contract a service without knowing its cost, Mr. Kapi expressed confidence that WAEC would manage to pay.

"Last year we contracted them, and we were able to pay. The assumption is that, whatever the cost, even if there is any percentage increase due to inflation, it will not be beyond our means. These are costs associated with examinations; they are unavoidable. We ensure that no one is excluded or deprived of the opportunity to write the examination," he stated.