Minority demands answers to gov’t GH¢100m debt owed to WAEC
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has 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 (WAEC).
The alleged GH¢100 million debt according to the Minority Caucus 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) 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 the target date for releasing the 2024 results; December 19, would likely be missed due to examiners withholding 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
The Minority highlighted the potential consequences of the debt on Ghana’s education system, particularly the impact on WASSCE graduates seeking admission to tertiary institutions in the 2024/2025 academic year.
In a related development, the West African Examinations Council says the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates results will not be released in December 2024 as earlier announced.
The Examinations Council decision comes after it earlier scheduled the second week of December this year thus between December 15, 2024, to December 19, 202,4 to release the provisional WASSCE for School results online.
But speaking in an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi said the WASSCE for School results remains unavailable due to unresolved financial obligations owed to technicians responsible for maintaining critical equipment needed for the examination process.
“The results are not ready. We issued a statement earlier highlighting some of the challenges we are currently facing. Unfortunately, these challenges persist because we have not been able to secure the necessary funds to address them,” he stated.
In a separate interview with Adom News, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Council revealed that the examination body has not yet received the arrears owed by the government for conducting the WASSCE for School.
Mr Kapi explained that the government owes WAEC approximately GH₵118 million and the situation is further complicated by the need for GH₵25 million to repair malfunctioning scanners essential for processing objective test results.
With less than two weeks left in 2024, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) official stated that, due to these financial challenges, there is no specific date for the release of the 2024 WASSCE for School results.
He indicated that the office of the West African Examinations Council is breaking for Christmas on December 20, 2024 however when the funds are released, they will have to call the staff for them to come back to the office.
The West African Examinations Council on August 5, 2024, commenced the administration of the 2024 edition of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates and ended it on Friday, September 20, 2024.
A total of 460,611 candidates made up of 212,954 boys and 247,657 girls, presented by 1,003 second-cycle schools registered for the examination. The 2024 WASSCE for School was administrated at 1,000 centres across the country
