Repairers of WASSCE scanners suspends services over debt – WAEC
Technicians tasked to repair the malfunctioning of specialised scanners essential for marking objective questions in the WASSCE for School have suspended their services, the Head of Public Affairs at the West African Examinations Council, John Kapi has disclosed.
In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM monitored by Pretertiary.com, the WAEC spokesperson said this is due to an outstanding debt of GH₵25 million owed to the scanners technicians by the West African Examinations Council.
“We needed to repair our scanners because we owe the technicians GH¢25 million and they have withdrawn their services until we make some financial commitments.
Private schools pay their fees but the government pays for candidates in public schools, and so until the monies are paid, we are unable to release the WASCE for School results,” John Kapi said speaking on the Citi Breakfast show.
The WAEC official further explained that the 2024 WASSCE results remain unavailable due to unresolved financial obligations owed to technicians responsible for maintaining critical equipment needed for the examination process.
“The WASSCE for School 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,” the WAEC spokesman noted.
In a related development, the West African Examinations Council says it is awaiting an outstanding balance of GHC118,000,000.00 owed to it by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to facilitate the release of the 2024 WASSCE for School results.
Earlier scheduled to be released in the second week of December this year, WAEC in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi said the WASSCE results will be out after the Education Ministry has settled the debt.
“The results will be released as soon as the challenges being experienced with the post-examination activities are resolved,” WAEC said in the statement citing that the outstanding balance has also caused post-WASSCE activities issues.
The Council is awaiting the release of additional funds out of the outstanding balance of GHC118,000,000.00 from the Ministry of Education to enable the scanning process and other post-examination processes to continue smoothly,” it stated.
WAEC revealed that although the marking of the 2024 WASSCE essay and practical components was completed on November 29, 2024, the scanning of objective test cards has been stalled due to the breakdown of scanners.
This the Examinations Council said has also led to the delay in the completion of the marking of the 2024 WASSCE for School objective sheets resulting in disruption in uploading the provisional West African Senior School Certificate Examination results online.
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.
The administration of the 2024 edition of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates which commenced on August 5, 2024, ended on Friday, September 20, 2024.
