We don’t fabricate BECE results to favour any government – WAEC

A spokesperson for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi has described as untrue and baseless allegations that the not-for-profit-making organization on political grounds manipulates examination results

“It’s untrue that we alter results to favour any government. No one should claim our exams are politically influenced. What candidates deserve is exactly what they receive,” the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC said in an interview.

Speaking in a discussion with Adom FM monitored by Thisterm.com, Kapi said the management of the West African Examinations Council ensures fairness and upholds strict standards in their marking schemes for all examinations.

“Such claims are baseless. No one within our organization would compromise our standards. We meticulously review and agree on marking schemes during coordination meetings to ensure consistency,” the WAEC official explained.

He said examiners are instructed to adhere strictly to agreed-upon criteria and not to use discretion to favour any candidate adding “We stand by our rigorous processes to guarantee fair and impartial examination outcomes.”

The spokesman’s comment comes after an examiner said the provisional results of this academic year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will be politically influenced by the general elections slated for December 2024.

Commenting on the ongoing national examination which commenced on Monday, July 8 and is expected to end July 15, 2024, the examiner in an interview with Accra-based Class 91.3FM, said they are sometimes urged to be lenient in their marking.

“Normally, before we start the marking, we go for coordination, where officials from WAEC and various zonal leaders of the various subjects meet on how we are to go about the marking.

But in the course of the coordination, especially the BECE, they will tell us that it is political, so in the course of the marking, we shouldn’t be so strict, meaning sometimes we should compromise with the system,” he stated.

He added “These things put fear in us, the examiners, and when we see some of these malpractices, all we can do is write a report and produce evidence. After that, we don’t have any control over what decision is to be taken based on what we have reported to our superiors.”

“They will tell us that the BECE, especially, is political. So when we are marking, we shouldn’t be strict. We should know that the students are our own children, our cousins, our nephews, and stuff like that. So we only listen to what they say, and we also go by that,” the examiner noted.

A total of 569,095 candidates representing 282,648 males and 286,447 females from 19,506 private and public Junior High Schools will sit for the BECE for School to start on Monday, July 8, and next Monday, July 15, 2024.

Regarding BECE for Private Candidates, the West African Examinations Council in a statement sighted by Thisterm.com said about 1,366 candidates, comprising 735 males and 631 females are expected to participate in the examination.