WAEC refutes claims of bias against private school candidates in BECE grading

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has dismissed allegations that it deliberately awards lower grades to candidates from private schools in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), insisting that its marking and grading processes are fair, transparent and internationally accepted.

The response follows concerns raised by the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), which questioned this year’s provisional BECE results and alleged grading discrepancies that could disadvantage private school candidates during placement into senior high schools.

Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, described the allegations as unfounded and assured stakeholders that the Council’s assessment system is designed to treat all candidates equally, irrespective of the type of school they attend.

“These allegations are false, misleading and have no factual basis. WAEC wishes to assure all stakeholders, parents, guardians, educational authorities, school proprietors and the public that the Council’s assessment and grading processes are guided by internationally accepted principles of fairness, consistency, objectivity and integrity,” Mr. Kapi stated.

He explained that WAEC’s examination processes are governed by established assessment procedures and quality assurance mechanisms that ensure consistency and credibility in the awarding of grades.

Responding to calls by GNAPS for an independent audit of the 2026 BECE results, Mr. Kapi said the Council was not opposed to such a review. However, he stressed that the scope of any investigation must first be clearly defined to enable WAEC to determine how best to facilitate the exercise.

He noted that while the Council is open to scrutiny, there are strict confidentiality requirements governing examination scripts, making it necessary for any review process to specify exactly what is to be examined.

“If they are specific about what they want, what they are looking for, then we can make provision for them to come in and assess the things that they want to assess and then satisfy themselves that indeed we are doing what we are supposed to do,” he said.

Mr. Kapi explained that assessment procedures involve technical processes that require specialised expertise, adding that individuals seeking to evaluate WAEC’s systems should have the requisite knowledge of educational assessment.

He also emphasised that candidates’ examination scripts remain confidential, even to many officials within the Council, and therefore cannot be accessed without clearly established procedures and justification.

According to him, WAEC will await further details from GNAPS regarding the proposed audit before taking any steps to facilitate the process.

“For now, once we can tell the scope of whatever probe they want to make or do, we would wait until they tell us what they want to see and they will know how to address that concern,” Mr. Kapi said.

The Council’s response comes amid ongoing public discussions over the release of the provisional 2026 BECE results, with some private school operators expressing concern that the outcome may affect their students’ placement into senior high schools.

WAEC has, however, maintained that its examination administration, marking and grading systems remain credible and are conducted in accordance with internationally recognised standards aimed at ensuring fairness and equal treatment for all candidates.