Parents asked to sue WAEC over ‘cancellation’ of 2025 BECE results

Pre-tertiary teacher unions have advised parents whose children’s 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results have been cancelled or withheld by the West African Examinations Council to take legal action against WAEC.

The pre-tertiary teacher unions in support of the legal action against the Examinations Council are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).

In an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, the teacher unions’ Labour Affairs Correspondent, Daniel Opoku, described WAEC’s actions as deeply concerning—especially in light of a similar case just eight months ago.

His concerns come after WAEC, in January this year, withheld or cancelled the results of thousands of students; as a ruling by the High Court later compelled the Council to release the results of over 10,000 students.

On the part of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), its General Secretary, Thomas Tanko Musah, has called on the West African Examinations Council to disclose the evidence that led to the latest cancellations.

“WAEC is saying that they detected [malpractices] during the conduct of the examination and marking. So the evidence you have—if any parent goes to court—must be competent. I pray this time, WAEC will not lose the case. If WAEC loses two times in a row, then WAEC will suffer a credibility crisis,” he said.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) General Secretary also urged affected parents to take legal steps if they believe the not-for-profit-making organization (WAEC) has acted unjustly.

“The Constitution of Ghana is very clear under Article 23: when you occupy a public office, you must act fairly and reasonably. So if, in the minds of the parents, WAEC has acted capriciously, they have every right to go to court to seek redress,” he added.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) on its part has is calling for firm punitive action—especially in cases where cheating is proven in the Basic Education Certificate Examination,

“We need to deal with this totally by enacting punitive and sanction laws. When people are found guilty, they should be dealt with according to the law,” the President of the NAGRAT Angel Carbonu stated.

The NAGRAT president also stressed the need to strengthen internal systems to prevent future examination malpractices in the national examination conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

“WAEC conducts examinations on behalf of international bodies, and we’ve never heard of leakages. So how come when we have our own exams, there are leakages? There is a problem somewhere. If someone is guilty, send the person to jail.”

A total of 603,328 candidates, comprising 297,250 males and 306,078 females, from nineteen thousand, five hundred and five (19,505) participating Junior High Schools (JHSs) entered for the school examination.

This includes seventy-two (72 ) candidates with visual impairment, two hundred and thirty-nine (239) with hearing impairment, and one hundred and sixty-one (161) candidates with other test accommodation needs.

The examination was conducted at two thousand, two hundred and thirty-seven (2,237 ) centres across the country. Out of the total number, two thousand, five hundred and twenty-six (2,526) candidates were absent.

The BECE for Private Candidates recorded a total entry figure of one thousand, three hundred and ninety (1,661) candidates. This was made up of eight hundred and fifty-eight (858) males and eight hundred and three (803 ) females.

Fifteen (15) centres, mostly in the regional capitals, were used for the BECE for Private Candidates. Out of the total number of candidates who entered for the examination, fifty-seven (57) were absent.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has cancelled the entire 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results of 177 students and withheld the results of over 2,000 others.

The not-for-profit organization claims the affected final-year Junior High School (JHS) students were involved in examination malpractices involving mobile phones and other unauthorized items.