No assurance for release of WASSCE results - WAEC distances itself from Education Minister's comment

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it cannot give assurance of 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 fix the broken down scanners, conclude scanning of the objective test answer cards, and then process the results is yet to be received.

The council has therefore, dismissed media publications giving an assurance that the results would be released by December 29.

WAEC has indicated to Graphic Online that the assurance by the Minister that there had been an additional release of GHc25 million 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.

Minister's press briefing

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 relarions 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.