The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has rejected claims that it deliberately marked down candidates from private schools in the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The response follows a call by the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) for an audit of the provisional BECE results over alleged discrepancies in the grading of candidates.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, August 6, 2026, Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, dismissed the allegations as unfounded, explaining that candidates’ identities are concealed during the marking process.
“These allegations are false, misleading, and have no factual basis. WAEC wishes to assure all stakeholders, parents, guardians, school proprietors, educational authorities, and the general public that the Council’s assessment and grading processes are guided by internationally accepted principles of fairness, objectivity, consistency, and integrity,” he stated.
Mr. Kapi further explained that WAEC uses the STEN scale, also known as the Standard Nine grading system, to report candidates’ performance relative to the overall performance of all candidates in a particular subject.
“The Council uses the STEN scale, also known as the Standard Nine grading system. It is a statistical method of reporting candidates’ performance relative to the overall performance of all candidates in a particular subject. The STEN scale ranges from 1 to 9. The entire population of examination candidates is considered 1,” he explained.
According to Mr. Kapi, candidates are distributed across the nine grades based on their performance relative to the entire cohort.
“Out of this lot, the first 4% scores Grade 1, the next 7% Grade 2, the next 12% Grade 3, the next 17% Grade 4, the next 20% Grade 5, the next 17% Grade 6, the next 12% Grade 7, the next 7% Grade 8, and the last 4% Grade 9,” he stated.
He explained that the grades are interpreted according to different levels of performance, with Grade 1 representing the highest performance and Grade 9 the lowest.
“The grades are interpreted as follows: Grade 1, highest performance; Grade 2, higher performance; Grade 3, high performance; Grade 4, high average; Grade 5, average; Grade 6, low average; Grade 7, low performance; Grade 8, lower performance; and Grade 9, lowest performance,” he added.
Mr. Kapi maintained that the grading system is applied across the entire population of candidates and is not designed to favour or disadvantage candidates based on the type of school they attend.
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Story by Alvin Henry Akwei Allotey | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Erica Odeenyin Odoom
