UPDATE ON WITHHELD RESULTS OF CANDIDATES OF THE WASSCE FOR SCHOOL CANDIDATES, 2024
The West African Examinations Council released provisional results of candidates who sat for the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024 on December 30, 2024. A total of 460,611 candidates drawn from 1,003 schools sat for the examination.
A number of irregularities were recorded in the course of the examination. These irregularities ranged from bringing foreign material into the examination halls, snapping and posting of questions on social media, distribution of photocopied responses to candidates and cases of invigilators assisting candidates in the examination halls. A number of these cases which were of criminal nature were reported to the police for appropriate action, while others involving candidates directly were reported to the office for appropriate sanctions to be applied.
Following completion of investigations into these malpractice cases, the Council upon approval by the Ghana Examinations Committee, took the following actions:
- Cancellation of subject results of 4,108 candidates for bringing foreign material into the examination hall;
- Cancellation of entire results of 483 candidates for possession of mobile phones in the examination hall;
- Withholding of subject results of 781 candidates;
- Withholding of entire results of 209 candidates for various suspected offences;
- Withholding of subject results of candidates from 319 schools
The withholding of results came as a result of reports made by examiners who in the course of marking the scripts discovered some alleged instances of collusion in the scripts of the candidates.
Procedures for dealing with withheld results
The Council’s procedures for dealing with withheld results are as follows:
The Council writes to all Heads of School affected by these actions after which it carries out a proper scrutiny of the scripts of these candidates.
After the scrutiny of scripts, officers meet with the candidates who are given a fair hearing on the exact circumstances that led to the alleged malpractice in respect of which the affected candidates had been invited.
The candidates are then invited to write statements in response to the allegations against them. They are neither coerced nor intimidated into writing the statements as is being alleged by some of the parents.
In respect of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024, the Council has concluded scrutiny of the scripts of the affected candidates and invited them, accompanied by their parents or guardians, to meet officials of the Council to be given an opportunity for a fair hearing. During the hearings, the affected candidates are required to respond to the allegations of their involvement in examination malpractices.
Based on the findings of these hearings, the Council will announce a final decision on the status of the results of the affected candidates.
We wish to bring to the notice of parents, guardians and indeed all stakeholders that the Council works within a body of rules. The Council does not take decisions arbitrarily. There are relevant committees that look into the merits of the matters raised and advise accordingly.
The Council wishes to report that some affected candidates of schools who were alleged to have engaged in examination malpractice (ie collusion) during the WASSCE (SC), 2024 took the issue to court. The Council filed its response to the court as appropriate. Subsequently, the court ruled that the results of the affected candidates of these schools should be released. To ensure fairness to all other affected candidates, the Council has filed a stay of execution pending appeal. The stay of execution is fixed to be heard on 20th February, 2025.
Meanwhile the Council has continued its hearings for other affected candidates and has been releasing results as appropriate. The Council wishes to assure its stakeholders that all the cases of malpractice being investigated would be finalized and all results released by 28th February, 2025.
The Council also wishes to assure its numerous publics that it is working assiduously to ensure that no candidate is cheated or unduly disadvantaged.
To conclude, the Council wishes to state that the increase in malpractice cases in the Council’s examinations is alarming. We would like to stress that the fight against this menace is a collective one. Parents, guardians, the media and indeed all stakeholders should speak out boldly against this menace in order to give our examination the credibility it deserves and ensure that certificates are awarded to people who truly deserve them.
Lastly, we wish to appeal to parents, guardians and the candidates involved to cooperate with the Council to enable it expedite action on the release of outstanding results.
SOURCE: UPDATE ON WITHHELD RESULTS FOR WASSCE 2024 – The West African Examinations Council
