The West African Examinations Council’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, has stated that marking of the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Exam papers (BECE) will be delayed if the government does not release additional money.
On Monday’s episode of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, he said that the government has given GHC10,500,000 which is roughly 15% of the entire payment for the 2023 B.E.C.E.
In order to ensure that the processing and marking of scripts proceeds without a hitch, he expects that the government will provide an additional fund from the remaining 75%.
“For now, we’ve been able to print and we are conducting, but for marking and processing, we may not be able to complete that because we need more funds,” he said.
More than 600,000 students around the country are taking the BECE this week. Mr. Kapi says that WAEC has sent out officers to check on some of the places where exam malpractice is known to happen. He also said the Council is working together with the National Investigative Bureau (NIB) to reduce the yearly rate of misconduct.
In addition, he denied claims that the organisation intends to search candidates private parts. “Absolutely not, we as a Council encourage a thorough search of every single candidate who is taking an examination.”
The government recently gave a sum of GH¢55 million to the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to prepare for the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
According to Ms. Winifred Ampiaw, the Public Relations Officer of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the total amount of monies received for the BECE is GH¢10.5 million, while the funds collected for the WASSCE amount to GH¢40 million.
