Govt pays ¢25m of ¢118m owed WAEC amid WASSCE results delay
The central government has issued a GH¢25 million payment to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) following the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) call for payment of the outstanding GH¢118 million debt.
In an interview with Citi FM monitored by Pretertiary.com, Dr. Clement Apaak, Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Education Committee said the GH¢25 million payment is a step in the right direction.
“The government has issued a cheque for GH¢25 million, but the total debt is GH¢118 million. This amount is less than half of what is owed and will not fully address the problem,” Dr Apaak told the Accra-based radio station.
Reacting to the payment, the Head of Public Relations of WAEC, John Kapi stated that the money would be used to pay technicians to repair faulty scanners crucial for marking objective examination sheets of the 2024 WASSCE.
The release of the GH¢25 million comes after the Minority Caucus in Parliament asked the Finance and Education Ministers to appear before the House to give answers to the alleged GH¢100 million debt owed to the West African Examinations Council.
The alleged GH¢100 million debt the Minority Caucus indicated has delayed the maintenance of malfunctioning scanners used for marking the 2024 WASSCE for School Candidates’ objective sheets and payments to examiners.
The Minority also said the debt owed to the not-for-money-making organization (WAEC) has disrupted the Council’s operations and delayed the release of the 2024 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination results.
Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament, said December 19, 2024, expected for the WASSCE results to be released had been missed due to examiners withholding the examination scripts until payments were made.
He, therefore, urged the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, to invite the two ministers to Parliament to explain why the government had failed to release funds to the Council to facilitate the release of the WASSCE results
Meanwhile, the management of the Ghana West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Friday, December 20, 202,4 announced it is going on a Christmas and New Year holiday break.
In a blog post on its official website sighted by Pretertiary.com, the Examinations Council said offices in Accra and the regions will be closed for the Christmas and New Year holidays on Friday, 20th December, 2024 at 5:00 pm.
“The West African Examinations Council wishes to inform all its stakeholders and members of the public that its offices in Accra and the regions will be closed for the Christmas and New Year holidays on Friday, 20th December 2024 at 5:00 pm.
All offices will be open for normal business on Monday, 6th January 2025 at 8:00 a.m. We wish all our stakeholders and members of the public, Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes in the coming year,” WAEC stated.
