Private SHSs demand release of 2024 WASSCE results

Private senior high schools in the country have described as unacceptable the delay in the release of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC) results since their candidates made payments for it and thus should not be affected.

According to the Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools (CHOPSS), it would, in collaboration with parents and students, be compelled to take further action if the situation was not addressed in the coming days.

"Regrettably, although students in private schools who sat for the 2024 WASSCE duly paid the WASSCE registration fees, our students are also being denied the right to receive their results.

"This situation is unacceptable because most universities in Ghana have their admission deadline in January 2025," a statement from the CHOPS made available to the Graphic Online, said.

Preventable 

The statement signed by the President, I. K. Mensah, the Public Relations Officer, Naphtali A. Kyei-Baffour, and General Secretary of CHOPSS, Joseph K. Dzamesi, noted with concern, the inability of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to release the results of the 2024 WASSCE-SC, attributing it to a highly preventable circumstance.

WAEC had identified the breakdown of scanners used for processing the objective cards as the primary cause of the delay in releasing the results. 

According to WAEC, an outstanding payment of GH¢118 million owed by the Ministry of Education was urgently needed to resolve the problem.

“WAEC is awaiting the release of additional funds out of an outstanding balance of GH¢118 million from the Ministry of Education for the repair of the scanners to carry out the scanning process of the objective cards for this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC),” the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, John Kapi, told the Daily Graphic earlier this month.

“Currently, we actually have a number of scanners but due to lack of funds, we have not been able to service them as they break down.  That's what has led to the current situation,” he explained.

The marking of the essays and other practical components of the papers which commenced on Friday, November 7 ended on Friday, November 29, 2024.

“Scanning of the objective cards which was scheduled for November 1 to November 30, 2024 is yet to be completed due to the breakdown of scanners used for the process,” WAEC said.

Breakdown 

The CHOPSS said but for the breakdown of the WAEC scanners, private schools would have requested from the council to release their results independently since they did not owe them. 

“It must be noted that the government's failure to address this issue promptly is deeply unfair to private schools, parents, and students.

“We, therefore, wish to call on the government as a matter of urgency to disburse any outstanding balance due to the Council so that the results can be released immediately,” it said.

The statement said private senior high schools had suffered enough. 

For eight years, it said “we have been ignored and not considered worthy of participating in the free SHS policy. For eight years, our classrooms have been left virtually empty as parents are forced to make economic decisions in choosing a senior high school for their wards”.

The 2024 WASSCE-SC was written from August 5, 2024 to September 20, 2024.

In all, 460,611 candidates, made up of 212,954 males and 247,657 females from 1,003 schools, sat the examination at 1,000 centres across the country.