MoE breaks silence on 2023 BECE, WASSCE cancellation over debt

The Ministry of Education says this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination will be conducted as scheduled, thus the claim of BECE and WASSCE cancellation should be ignored.

The Ministry’s comment comes after Minority in Parliament raised concerns that government indebtedness to the West African Examinations Council could trigger the postponement of the 2023 national and international examinations.

In an interview with Citi News monitored by AcademicWeek, the Deputy Ranking Member on Education Committee, Dr Clement Apaak described the issue as worrisome and needs to be treated with urgency by the government.

“The issue at hand is worrisome because invigilators, supervisors and examiners have not been paid as they ought to and the reason WAEC has been unable to pay them is the government is failing to pay WAEC for fees,” Apaak told Citi.

But, the Deputy Minister for Education, Ntim Fordjour reacting to Clement Apaak’s allegation said the government has engaged the not-for-profit organization (WAEC) for the 2023 WASSCE and BECE to be conducted as planned.

Reverend Ntim Fordjour disclosed that the central government on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, paid an amount of GH¢‎40 million to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for the administration of the two examinations this year.

“I wish to state emphatically that all arrangements to begin BECE on August 7, 2023, are in place and nothing has changed. The BECE will be conducted by WAEC. There were concerns of indebtedness that were brought to the attention of the Ministry of Education but as of July 26, 2023, GH¢‎40 million has been paid to WAEC,” John Ntim said.

In another story, the West African Exams Council has cautioned members of the general public particularly students to disregard purported confirmed topics for the 2023 WASSCE and BECE circulating on social media platforms.

The non-profit-making organization in a post sighted by AcademicWeek said the so-called WAEC confirmed topics are not related to the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

More than 448,000 students from public and private Senior High Schools according to Agnes Cudjoe, a spokesperson for WAEC are expected to sit for the 2023 WASSCE for School from July 31, 2023, through to September 26, 2023.

For the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the Public Relations Officer for the West African Examinations Council said over 600,000 candidates will sit for the 2023 national examination slated for August 7 to August 11, 2023.

Speaking in a discussion monitored by AcademicWeek.com, she said all the candidates to partake in the examinations for school candidates are registered and eligible final-year students from both private and public Junior High Schools.