WAEC to conduct 2022/23 BECE (school & private) jointly

The 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will be conducted jointly for final-year Junior High School students and private students, the management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has disclosed.

In a statement shared with AcademicWeek, WAEC said its decision not to administer the national examination separately for the candidates is due to the consistently low entries for the BECE for Private Candidates over the years.

“This year, two groups of BECE candidates (School and Private), will for the first time, take the examination at the same period. This is due to the consistently low entries for the BECE for Private Candidates over the years,” it stated.

According to the Council, a total number of 552,276 prospective candidates from 18,501 Junior High Schools (JHSs) will take the 32nd edition of the BECE for School Candidates at 2,023 centres throughout the country.

“The entry figure is made up of 276,988 males and 275,288 females. The number of candidates that registered for this year’s BECE (SC) is 3.48% less than the 2021 entry figure of 572,167,” the non-profit-making organization noted.

In respect of the BECE for Private Candidates, it said 1,132 students representing 634 males and 498 females registered for the examination. The examination will be taken at 15 selected centres, mainly in the regional capitals.

The Examinations Council following the impending administration of the 2022 BECE says all appropriate measures have been put in place to safeguard test security and ensure that the examination is conducted successfully.

“Candidates are also cautioned against engaging in collusion and other forms of examination malpractice, such as bringing mobile phones and other foreign materials into the examination hall

Candidates are reminded that collusion can be detected in their scripts during marking and that the penalties for examination malpractice include Cancellation of Subject/Entire Results.” the not-for-profit institution warned.

On the part of examination officials (Supervisors, Invigilators, Distributors, etc.) WAEC said urged them to comply with the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the examination and refrain from being facilitators of malpractice.

The West African Examinations Council will administer the 32nd and 2022 edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School and Private Candidates, 2022 from October 17, 2022, to October 21, 2022.