The fate of approximately 460,611 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) School Candidates (SC) is uncertain as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) struggles to complete the process of releasing their results.

For example, the examination body has been unable to complete script marking due to the large cost of purchasing a new scanner or repairing the old ones in order to scan the objective cards for this year's WASSCE.

"WAEC is awaiting the release of additional funds out of an outstanding balance of GH¢118 million from the Ministry of Education for the repair of the scanners to carry out the scanning process of the objective cards for this year's West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC)," John Kapi, the WAEC head of public affairs, told the newspaper.

"We now have a lot of scanners, but due to a lack of funding, we have been unable to service them when they break down. That is what has led to the current predicament," he stated.

In an Update on Post-Examination Activities, WAEC warned the public to disregard information appearing on social media claiming to be results release dates.

"The results will be released as soon as the challenges being experienced with the post-examination activities are resolved," according to the update he had signed.

WAEC began administering the 2024 WASSCE-SC on August 5, 2024, and completed the exam satisfactorily on Friday, September 20, 2024.

The marking of essays and other practical components of the papers, which began on Friday, November 7, ended on Friday, November 29, 2024.

"Scanning of the objective cards which was scheduled for November 1 to November 30, 2024 is yet to be completed due to the breakdown of scanners used for the process," the news release stated.

460,611 candidates took part in the 2024 WASSCE-SC.

Ghanaian applicants took the Ghana Only WASSCE-SC for the third time because the other four WAEC member nations — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia — switched to the May/June timetable for WASSCE school candidates.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted Ghana to adopt a 'new normal' calendar.

This year's cohort of candidates included 247,657 female and 212,954 male candidates from 1,003 schools that enrolled for the exam.

The examination began on Monday, August 5, this year, with the administration of Visual Arts Project Work and will end on Friday, September 20, 2024.

Infractions

WAEC previously stated that it had detected multiple irregularities in the 2024 exam.

It included supervisors, invigilators, and candidates.

The breaches included photocopying and distributing answers to candidates, smuggling mobile phones into test halls by both candidates and teachers, and concealing foreign materials during the exam.

"The council will take appropriate action to ensure that all examination officials and stakeholders who were found culpable are sanctioned in accordance with the appropriate provisions of the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the examination," according to a council statement.

Source :AdomOnline.com