Ghana to host 2026, 74th edition of WAEC Annual Council Meeting
The Government of Ghana will host the 74th edition of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Annual Council Meeting in 2026. This was announced at the 73rd edition of the event held this year in Monrovia, Liberia.
The 72nd Meeting was hosted in Freetown in 2024 by the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, and the 74th edition will be hosted by the Government of Ghana in March 2026, at the invitation of Ghana’s delegation.
A this year’s Annual Council Meeting of The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Liberia’s Chief Government Nominee on Council, Amos Armah, was appointed as Vice Chairman for a one-year tenure. He succeeds Mr. Edward Kpakra of Sierra Leone.
The meeting, which was held from Monday, 17th to Friday, 21st March 2025, was declared open by His Excellency, Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia.
In a keynote address, President Boakai congratulated WAEC on its 73rd anniversary and stated that this 73rd-year journey of the Council is a testament to the resilience of the educational systems in the sub-region and the commitment of its educators in nurturing the leaders of tomorrow.
He noted that WAEC has been at the forefront of educational assessment in West Africa for more than half a century, ensuring that students receive credible and standardized examinations.
The President of Liberia added that the Council has played its part very well in providing a framework that allows for transparency, accountability, and fairness in assessing academic achievements across the region.
The President stressed that WAEC has also been instrumental in facilitating a common curriculum, ensuring quality assurance, and promoting regional integration, and urged that it should recognize the urgency and importance of creating inclusive examination policies and practices.
He stated further that it is essential that the Council design testing environments that are accessible to students with disabilities, ensuring that they have equal opportunities to showcase their skills and earn the qualifications they deserve.
At the formal opening of the meeting, the Council honoured three Ghanaian candidates with the WAEC International Excellence Award for their outstanding performance in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024.
They were Master David Nii Commey Ankrah (1st Prize), Master Henschel Tabi Frempong-Manso (2nd Prize), and Master Benedict Ofori Debrah (3rd Prize).
The three candidates were selected from 2,455,063 who sat the 2024 edition of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
The Augustus Bandele Oyediran Award for the Best Candidate in West Africa, 2024, also went to Master David Nii Commey Ankrah.
The WAEC Annual Council Meeting is organized by the Council, which is WAEC’s governing board. Council holds its meetings yearly in rotation among the five member countries of the not-for-profit organization: The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
The meeting, which lasted for a week, was attended by delegates from all the member countries. They included nominees of the governments, representatives of ministries/departments of education, universities, secondary schools, and other interest groups.
The meeting began on the 30th in the series of the Council’s Annual Endowment Fund Lectures entitled, “Digital Transformation in Education: To AI or Not to AI”, delivered by the President of Cuttington University, Liberia – Dr. Romelle Alexzyn Horton.
At the end of the week-long meeting, the Chairman of Council, Prof. Thomas B. R. Yormah, expressed appreciation to the Government and good people of Liberia for the wonderful hospitality accorded the delegates and for doing everything necessary to ensure the success of the meeting.
