Govt releases GH¢80m to WAEC to conduct 2024 WASSCE & BECE

The government has released GH¢80 million to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to conduct the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination and West African Senior School Certificate Examination, the Majority Chief Whip has told Parliament.

The GH¢80 million, the Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh said was released by the Ministry of Finance to the management of the not-for-profit-making organization (WAEC) on Friday, June 21, 2024.

This comes after a spokesman for WAEC said his outfit needs GH¢95.83 million to administer the 2024 WASSCE and BECE expressed fears the examinations might not be conducted as scheduled if the funds were not made available in time.

“A number of suppliers out of goodwill have supplied materials such as bond paper for printing of codes, consumables for the printing machines, answer booklets, pencils and other examination stationery on credit

As a result of our indebtedness, they are unwilling to supply any further materials for the next examination, which is the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates 2024,” Mr Kapi disclosed.

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) and other stakeholders earlier called on the government to release funds to WAEC for the Basic Education Certificate Examination scheduled for July 8, 2024.

In a statement, sighted by Thisterm.com, the Campaign Coalition expressed concern over the central government’s indebtedness to the West African Examinations Council making it difficult to conduct the national examination.

“Records from WAEC indicate that the government owes the council an amount of GH¢698,500 being the outstanding balance needed for the 2023 BECE exams. For the 2024 examination, only 2.28 million Ghana cedis have so far been disbursed out of the GH¢95,837,306 needed to facilitate the examination.

“The BECE is not only vital for assessing students’ academic progress but also for determining their placement in senior high schools. Any disruption to this examination could have far-reaching consequences for the educational and future career prospects of these young learners,” Bernice Mpere-Gyekye, National Coordinator for GNECC disclosed.

She continued: “It’s sad to note that these issues are now coming up with just about three weeks to the start of the BECE, which has the potential not only to disrupt the smooth facilitation of the examinations but also affect the mindset of learners preparing to take the exams.

“GNECC strongly urges the government to take immediate action to address this funding shortfall. We call on the Ministry of Education, The Ghana Education Service and other relevant authorities to prioritize the release of all necessary funds to WAEC, before the close of next week to ensure that the BECE can proceed as planned.”