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WAEC officials present in fewer than 10% of BECE centres – EduWatch
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, has raised concerns about the limited physical presence of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) officials at Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centres across the country.
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, has raised concerns about the limited physical presence of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) officials at Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centres across the country.
According to him, WAEC officials are present in fewer than 10 per cent of BECE centres, leaving the examination body to rely largely on supervisors and technology-driven systems to monitor and detect examination malpractice.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, August 4, Mr Asare said the limited presence of WAEC personnel at examination centres creates challenges for effective supervision and oversight of the examination process.
“The challenge is that WAEC has limited presence. Their staff, their own officials, are available in less than 10 per cent of the BECE centres,” he stated.
He explained that WAEC depends heavily on supervisors, including headteachers and other education officials, to oversee examinations at many centres, although some of these individuals may have connections to the schools where candidates are writing.
Mr Asare said such arrangements could potentially affect the independence of supervision and create gaps in preventing examination irregularities.
He noted that WAEC has increasingly relied on technology to identify suspicious examination patterns, including cases where candidates provide unusually similar answers.
“WAEC cannot detect everything, but if you are giving something to copy, the system can pick it up depending on the pattern,” he said.
His comments follow WAEC’s announcement that some results from the 2026 BECE have been cancelled, withheld or placed under review due to suspected examination malpractice.
WAEC indicated that 601 candidates’ results had been cancelled, 167 results withheld, while 2,722 others remained under scrutiny.
Mr Asare, however, cautioned that an increase in reported cases of examination malpractice does not necessarily mean cheating is increasing, explaining that it may also reflect improvements in monitoring and enforcement mechanisms by WAEC.
According to him, WAEC officials are present in fewer than 10 per cent of BECE centres, leaving the examination body to rely largely on supervisors and technology-driven systems to monitor and detect examination malpractice.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, August 4, Mr Asare said the limited presence of WAEC personnel at examination centres creates challenges for effective supervision and oversight of the examination process.
“The challenge is that WAEC has limited presence. Their staff, their own officials, are available in less than 10 per cent of the BECE centres,” he stated.
He explained that WAEC depends heavily on supervisors, including headteachers and other education officials, to oversee examinations at many centres, although some of these individuals may have connections to the schools where candidates are writing.
Mr Asare said such arrangements could potentially affect the independence of supervision and create gaps in preventing examination irregularities.
He noted that WAEC has increasingly relied on technology to identify suspicious examination patterns, including cases where candidates provide unusually similar answers.
“WAEC cannot detect everything, but if you are giving something to copy, the system can pick it up depending on the pattern,” he said.
His comments follow WAEC’s announcement that some results from the 2026 BECE have been cancelled, withheld or placed under review due to suspected examination malpractice.
WAEC indicated that 601 candidates’ results had been cancelled, 167 results withheld, while 2,722 others remained under scrutiny.
Mr Asare, however, cautioned that an increase in reported cases of examination malpractice does not necessarily mean cheating is increasing, explaining that it may also reflect improvements in monitoring and enforcement mechanisms by WAEC.
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