The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has announced that the scripts of 22,270 students in specific subjects in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) have been withheld and are being reviewed for possible examples of mass cheating.
According to WAEC, based on the outcome of investigations, their results may be cancelled or released.
This was disclosed when WAEC announced the preliminary results of applicants who took the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for both public and private institutions.
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The results are published on the website of the examination administration authority, www.waecgh.org.
Statistics
A total of 600,900 candidates—300,404 boys and 300,496 girls—from 18,993 participating schools took the school exam. This statistic includes 53 applications with visual impairment, 366 applicants with hearing impairment, and 54 candidates with additional special educational needs. 2,137 venues around the nation hosted the test. 3,366 applications did not appear for the test.
The BECE for Private candidates was taken by 1,839 applicants. In total, there were 897 females and 942 males. Fifteen sites were used for the test, most of them being provincial capitals. Out of all the candidates that took the exam, 61 were not present.
The 34th Meeting of the Final Awards and Examiners’ Appointment Committee for BECE, which was held on Monday, November 6, 2023, authorised the following after investigations into numerous instances of irregularity found during the examination and script marking were concluded:
(1) Cancellation of Subject Results of 312 school candidates and 3 private candidates for bringing foreign materials, namely, prepared notes, textbooks and printed materials into the examination hall or colluding with other candidates;
(2) Cancellation of Entire Results of 41 school candidates and 1 private candidate for possession of mobile phones in the examination hall;
(3) Withholding of Subject Results of 180 school candidates and 4 private candidates for various suspected offences;
(4) Withholding of Entire Results of 110 school candidates and 2 private Candidates for various suspected offences;
Caution
The Council warns all stakeholders to be careful of scammers who claim to improve results for a fee. Candidates should be aware that WAEC results are safe and may be verified.
