The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it cannot guarantee the release of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results on or before December 29, 2024, as announced by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
This is because the amount it awaits to enable it to fix the broken down scanners, conclude scanning of the objective test answer cards, and then process the results is yet to be received.
Therefore, the Council dismissed media publications, giving an assurance that the results would be released by December 29.
WAEC has indicated to Graphic Online that the Minister’s assurance that an additional GHc25 million had been released to the Council for its operational activities and that it had assured that results would be released before or by December 29, 2024, was not accurate.
The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum told journalists after a brief visit to the WAEC offices on Tuesday that the results of the 2024 WASSCE would be released by December 29.
He told journalists that the WAEC was finalising the marking process and working to ensure the results were published on time.
The minister highlighted the government’s support in alleviating some of WAEC’s financial challenges, enabling the council to focus on accurate marking and timely releases.
Rebuttal
But in rebuttal, the Head of the Public relations Unit, John Kapi explained that those stories on social media and in some sections of the media emanated from a brief visit by the Minister of Education to the WAEC offices to acquaint himself with the progress of work.
“Without any formal meeting with the management team of WAEC, he addressed the media present, giving them assurances that results would be released by December 29,” he said.
“We wish to state that apart from a cheque for GH25 million that was issued on December 18, no further releases out of the outstanding GHc118 million have been made.
“The Council awaits the release of the additional GHc35 million it has requested from the Ministry of Education to enable it to fix the broken down scanners, conclude scanning of the objective test answer cards, and then process the results.
Giving further details, Mr Kapi said the GHc60 million originally demanded for, out of which the Ministry paid the GHc25 million was “simply based on projections about the cost of replaceable parts and repairs, payment for scrutiny being undertaken and payment for a bigger bandwidth to enable us to upload the results when they’re ready.”
He, however, said the Council was expecting the release of the outstanding balance to enable it pay Supervisors, Invigilators, script checkers and suppliers of examination materials.
ALSO READ: