WAEC receives ¢25m to pay debt owed WASSCE scanners repairers

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has received an amount of GH¢25 million from its outstanding GH¢118 million debt owed to it by the central government, a source familiar with the development has disclosed.

In an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, a spokesperson for WAEC, John Kapi said his outfit would use the money to pay technicians to repair faulty scanners crucial for marking the 2024 WASSCE for School objective sheets.

The government released the amount after technicians tasked to repair the malfunctioning of specialised scanners essential for marking objective questions in the 2024 WASSCE for School withdrew their services over debt.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the Head of Public Affairs at the not-for-profit organization 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“We needed to repair our scanners because we owe the technicians GH¢25 million and they have withdrawn their services until we make some financial commitments.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.

WAEC said it was 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 led to the delay in the completion of the marking of the 2024 WASSCE for School objective sheets resulting in disruption in uploading the 2024 examination results of candidates online.

WAEC on August 5, 2024, began 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 prospective candidates made up of 12,954 males and 247,657 females, from 1,003 second-cycle schools nationwide sat for the Ghana version of the international examination conducted at 1,000 centres across the country.

In related news, the office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) – Ghana on Friday, December 20, 2024, went on break for the Christmas and New Year holidays and is expected to resume operations on January 6, 2025.

The Examinations Council has thus urged members of the public especially students who sat for the examination to ignore purported dates for the release of the 2024 WASSCE for School results circulating on social media.

Currently, the Head of Public Relations for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi has stated that due to these financial challenges, there is no specific date for the release of the 2024 WASSCE for School results.