The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has confirmed the receipt of an additional GHS35 million from Ghana’s Ministry of Education to expedite the processing of the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results.
The development follows recent discussions between the Ministry and WAEC after the Ministry called for clarification on statements made by the Council’s Public Relations Officer. The Ministry had urged WAEC to ensure internal verification of facts before making public statements that could potentially mislead or undermine its efforts.
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Ghana’s Minister of Education, visited WAEC’s offices on December 24, 2024, and assured the public that the results would be released by December 29. He stated that WAEC was in the final stages of marking and was working to meet the deadline.
However, WAEC had earlier disputed claims by the Ministry, particularly regarding the allocation of an additional GHS25 million for operational expenses. The Council had expressed doubts about meeting the December 29 deadline, citing the financial challenges it faced.
In a subsequent statement on December 26, the Ministry clarified that WAEC had acknowledged the receipt of GHS25 million on December 20. Additionally, WAEC had requested a further GHS35 million to accelerate the results processing, a request that the Ministry had fulfilled.
WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, confirmed on December 27 that the additional GHS35 million was received on December 25, which would facilitate the completion of the scanning of objective answer sheets and final processing of the results.
WAEC reassured stakeholders that it was working tirelessly to meet the December 29 deadline for releasing the results. However, Kapi appealed to the Ministry for the release of outstanding funds to ensure timely payments to supervisors, invigilators, script checkers, and suppliers, and to meet other financial obligations.
“The Council remains committed to fulfilling its mandate and wishes all stakeholders the best of the season despite the challenges,” Kapi said in his statement.
Source:TheDotNews