Ghana returns to WAEC fold

After years of running a separate calendar, Ghana’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination candidates are back where they belong — writing alongside their peers in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia. 

Today, as the WASSCE for School Candidates officially takes off across the sub-region, Ghanaian students are sitting the Oral English paper, joining thousands of others in a unified May/June examination window.  

For the first time since COVID-19 disrupted education in 2020, Ghana has realigned with the WAEC timetable.

The practical aspect of the examination began on April 7 for Visual Arts, General Science and French candidates, but today marks the full return to the regional schedule. 

The break in alignment was born of necessity. COVID-19 forced Ghana to shift its academic calendar and, in turn, to conduct a Ghana Only WASSCE in September and October. While WAEC consistently maintained that the Ghana Only papers were of equal standard to the regional version, public perception was different.

Many stakeholders felt the separation distorted the true picture of our candidates’ performance and weakened the credibility of the results in comparison with the rest of West Africa.  

The return to a unified timetable ends a five-year disruption that had become a source of anxiety for students, parents and tertiary institutions alike.

But realignment is only the beginning.

What matters now is how we safeguard the integrity of the examination.

Examination malpractice remains the single greatest threat to the credibility of our education system.

The recent Basic Education Certificate Examination was marred by concerns of malpractice, much of it allegedly perpetrated not by candidates, but by the very teachers and supervisors entrusted to uphold standards. 

The swift response by the Ghana Education Service and WAEC — leading to arrests, trials and convictions — is commendable.

Last year, eight invigilators and supervisors were jailed for their role in malpractice.  

Yet the punishment does not fit the crime. Fines ranging between GH¢2,400 and GH¢5,000 are too low to deter determined offenders.

Parliament must revisit the law and introduce stiffer sanctions that make malpractice unattractive.

The new policy that automatically dismisses convicted GES staff is a step in the right direction, but deterrence requires more than administrative action.

It requires legal consequences that hurt.  

The Ghana Education Service Director-General, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, has warned candidates against malpractice, stressing that it could lead to the withholding, cancellation or annulment of papers.

WAEC and the security agencies have also made clear that both candidates and officials who engage in fraud will be pursued.

These warnings, however, risk becoming clichés if they are not backed by consistent enforcement and public accountability.  

The Daily Graphic urges WAEC to revive the practice of naming, shaming and publishing the pictures of convicted culprits alongside details of their fines and jail terms, as public exposure is a powerful deterrent.

Civil society organisations in the education sector must also play their part by working closely with WAEC to report suspected malpractice.

To the candidates, the advice is simple: do your own work. 

The examination is based on the syllabus, which is what the candidates have been taught.

Resorting to external help may offer short-term relief, but it undermines your future and damages the reputation of the country. 

The consequences — withheld results, cancelled subjects, or the annulment of an entire examination — are not worth the risk.

Ghana’s return to the WAEC calendar restores a sense of regional solidarity and academic parity.

It allows our students to be assessed on the same platform as their peers across West Africa, and it gives employers and tertiary institutions a clearer basis for comparison.

That credibility must be protected at all costs.  

Education is the foundation of national development.

If we allow examination malpractice to fester, we are not just cheating the system; we are breeding a generation of professionals who believe that shortcuts are acceptable.

That is a future Ghana cannot afford.  

As we wish the candidates well, we call on all stakeholders — WAEC, the Ministry of Education, the GES, teachers, parents and civil society — to play their role in ensuring a free, fair and credible examination.

Let this year’s WASSCE mark not just a return to the regional calendar, but a renewal of our collective commitment to academic integrity.