The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is hoping to deploy its staff by July 4 amidst financial constraints for the impending 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
This can be successful if the government’s promised GH¢47 million in funds reaches them in time.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Council, John K. Kapi, who spoke on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning on Monday, stated that preparations are underway to receive the government’s GH¢47 million in cash.
“We will deploy our staff by the 4th of July. Our vehicles are going to start moving, and staff will also start moving on the 4th of July. We believe that if they can process the money before the 4th of July, we would be in a position to conduct the examination as we have stated,” he explained.
However, if the process of releasing the funds is delayed, WAEC would be left with no option but to postpone the examination date, which would affect the council’s schedule and the educational system as a whole.
As to the total targeted amount the council expects, Mr Kapi said it would be dependent on the number of examiners they would engage.
“Sometimes you probably would invite about 2,000, and maybe you get just about 1,900 that would report. So, that depends on the number of examiners that we get and also the number of scripts that we have, the marking venues and centres we have across the country and other logistics that we would need to carry out the marking process.”
Nevertheless, Mr Kapi asserted that the printing of examination questions is currently ongoing, and supervisors have already been deployed nationwide to educate all candidates on the rules and guidelines as part of the council’s preparations.
WAEC had earlier announced that it had received just about GH¢2.3 million out of GH¢95.83 million required to successfully facilitate the exam and insisted that it would require not less than 50 per cent of the total amount to enable it to conduct the examination, and a further release of more funds to enable it to process and release the results.
The examination is scheduled to commence on Monday, July 8 and end on Monday, July 15, 2024, at all centres across the country.
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