The Minority in Parliament has raised concerns about the upcoming 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination and the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination coming off due to huge amounts of monies owed the West African Examinations Council(WAEC) by government for services rendered for the 2022 academic year.
The development comes on the back of concerns that Examinations body might not be able to organize both sets of exams for students this year if the government does not take urgent steps to clear the Ghc 50m owed the entity.
Speaking in a media engagement, the Ranking Member of the Education Committee in Parliament, Hon. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe expressed his misgivings about the delays by the state in offsetting the monies owed WAEC which will enable a successful conduct of examinations for eligible candidates in the 2022/2023 academic year.
This includes allowances owed to supervisors, invigilators, examiners, and other personnel involved in the examination process.
“The challenge for WAEC now is the government’s inability to release funds to them to perform their functions. Those who worked for WAEC last year, 2022, in the conduct of the WASSCE have not been paid the allowances due to the supervisors, the invigilators, the examiners, and all other persons. So, WAEC is unable to raise funds to meet its obligations,” he said.
“Now the examinations are about to start again or they have even started with the orals and practicals and the WAEC is not having money to pay for last year’s services. So we don’t know what the government is doing and if care is not taken, the persons or the teachers who gave us the service may not be ready to provide services again as supervisors and invigilators.”
“I know of a country, a member country, that by the end of the first quarter, all the budget of WAEC is released to them for national and international examinations. Why can’t we do the same in Ghana?”
“This is the challenge WAEC is facing and if we don’t help them to get what is due them, I don’t know how the exams for this year will be conducted. For now, they need about GH₵50 million to clear the previous year’s arrears. Those who print their scripts for them, those who print booklets, they owe all of them.
Final year students in all Junior High and Senior High Schools across the country are in school feverishly preparing for their respective examinations which are scheduled for the latter part of this year.
