Gov’t owes WAEC about ¢340m for BECE and WASSCE – EduWatch
Dating as far back as 2022, the total government debt to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination is about GH¢340 million, Africa Education Watch has disclosed.
The Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare following the debt the government owed the not-for-profit-making organization has called for stakeholders’ conversation on how the accumulation of the debts affects WAEC’s ability to run credible examinations.
“keeping in mind that the quality of invigilation and supervision, which is a function of money, is the West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) greatest problem today.
Poor invigilation and supervision create fertile grounds for the unprecedented high levels of exam room collusion and WASSCE fraud currently being recorded in Ghana
Eduwatch has been recommending the use of non-GES staff as exam invigilators and supervisors. Without any disrespect, I surmise that, with the current erratic budgetary regime, WAEC can only continue to engage GES staff or public sector employees because they are actually used to being owed by WAEC due to the long-standing relationship.
Amid these perennial financing challenges, and other pressing financing needs in the infrastructure and TLR space, does it make economic sense to keep paying for WASSCE for the rich and poor or we will keep making excuses under the guise of ‘we can’t determine who can pay’?
For the avoidance of doubt, we are talking about GH¢465 per candidate. We are spending almost GHC 180 million on wholesale free WASSCE this year, at a time some SHS cook under sheds using ‘mukyia’ and firewood, with others lacking beds and common desks
It is never an issue of whether BECE will come off. It is far from that. If we don’t depart from this erratic budgetary regime, characterised by low levels of budget credibility, WAEC can never invest to end exam room collusion and related fraud,” he stated.
Africa Education Watch’s comment comes after the management of the West African Examinations Council threatened to cancel the conduct of the 2024 edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examination over financial challenges.
WAEC spokesman, John Kapi in an interview with JoyNews said his outfit expects a total amount of GH¢95,837,306 from the central government to be able to conduct the national examination for final-year Junior High School students.