The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it found photocopied answers in the answer booklets of certain prospective candidates who took the recently concluded 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
In an interview, John Kapi, a spokesperson for the non-profit organization (WAEC), stated that photocopied answers were found in the answer booklets of 15 candidates who took the exam.
Speaking on Starr FM's Morning Starr with Joshua Kodjo, WAEC's Head of Public Affairs, Mr John K. Kapi, stated, "At a particular center in a room of about 32, 15 of them had photocopied answers in their answer booklets."
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Public Relations Officer informed the Morning Starr show host: "So, on the part of the candidates, we observed that a lot of them had received assistance from the invigilators."
"We have a statement form that the candidates are supposed to fill, and they write their statements admitting their guilt if they want, and then we apply the relevant rules when the scripts or the reports come to us and when marking is done," he informed me.
Mr. John K. Kapi indicated that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) does not publicly name applicants who engage in such conduct, but instead follows internal procedures for dealing with national examination malpractice.
The WAEC official also stated that some invigilators used mobile phones to take photographs of question papers, which they then posted on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, in clear violation of examination regulations.
"The other aspect that I want to discuss is the attitude of some of the personnel who were assigned to us to conduct the task in terms of supervision and invigilation. I believe some of them did not follow the game's regulations.
A total of 603,328 applicants, comprising 297,250 males and 306,078 females, from 20,395 Junior High Schools (JHSs) nationally, took this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School, The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Private Candidates was attended by 1,661 candidates, including 858 males and 803 females, according to the non-profit organization WAEC.
The BECE for School Candidates was held at 2,237 test centers around the country, whereas the BECE for Private Candidates was held at fifteen (15) locations, primarily in regional capitals.
The Ashanti Region fielded the most candidates (119,354), followed by Greater Accra (111,700) and the Central Region (67,146). To assure exam success, WAEC, in partnership with Ghana Education (GES) and the Ministry of Education (MoE), deployed 2,237 supervisors, 2,016 assistant supervisors, and 21,206 invigilators.
