447,204 Candidates sit for Ghana only WASSCE – WAEC extends best wishes as exam takes off

The Ghana Only Version of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates (WASSCE-SC) 2023 begins today in the country with project works in Basketry, Ceramics and Graphic Design. 

In all, a total of 447,204 candidates, comprising 211,834 males and 235,370 females will sit for the examination at 834 centres across the country.

The total candidature represents an increase of 24,321 over last year’s candidature of 422,883.

In all, final-year students from 975 second cycle schools will participate in the examination, which is being written for the second time in Ghana.

There will be a total of 834 supervisors, 2,243 assistant supervisors and 14,907 invigilators to man the examination.

Ghanaian candidates are writing the Ghana only WASSCE-SC for the second successive time because the other four-member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia — have returned to the May/June calendar and had administered the WASSCE for their school candidates.

The four countries have had their academic calendars streamlined to enable them to write the examination in May/June, as Ghana sticks to the ‘new normal’ calendar occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Head of National Office (HNO) of WAEC, Wendy Enyonam Addy-Lamptey wished candidates well in the examination and cautioned them against engaging in the act of cheating which could lead to the withholding of their papers for investigations.

She said parents and school authorities should also advise their children and students against taking mobile phones to the examination halls.

“To the candidates, I want to tell you that you can pass your examination without cheating .

Make sure you prepare well for the papers and read the questions very well before answering them,” she emphasised.

Regional breakdown

Statistics from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) made available to the Daily Graphic indicated that the Ashanti Region would present the highest number of candidates; 107,061, made up of 51,404 males and 55,657 females.

The Ahafo, Bono and Bono East regions together would have the second highest number of candidature of 65,731, comprising 31,341 males and 34,390 females.

Eastern Region comes third in place with 60,516 candidates – 28,120 males and 32,396 females, while the Central Region, with some of the top second cycle schools in the country has 54,084 candidates involving 24,520 males and 29,564 females.

Others

Forty-two thousand three hundred and thirty eight candidates (19,705 males and 22,633 females) would participate in the examination in the Greater Accra Region, while the Volta and Oti regions would jointly present 37,594 candidates; 18,408 males and 19,186 females.

In the case of the Western and Western North regions, 32,705 candidates would sit for the WASSCE SC.

Moreover, 25,295 candidates (13,297 males and 11,998 females) are expected to participate in the examination in the Northern, North East and Savannah regions.

The entry figures of the candidates also showed that 13,826 (6,370 males and 7,456 females) final-year senior high school students would write the examination in the Upper East Region.

The Upper West Region would have 8,054 candidates (3,836 males and 4,218 females).

Timetable

Per the timetable, all candidates would take the Oral English examination on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 while Social Studies would be written on Monday, August 28, 2023.

English Language is slated for Thursday, September 7, 2023 with Mathematics taking place on Thursday, September 14, 2023.

Integrated Science is scheduled for Monday, September 18, 2023.

The examination ends on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 with Literature-In-English (Drama & Poetry), Jewellery and Woodwork.

the examination, visually impaired and hearing impaired candidates are to be allowed one and half times the time allotted to other candidates.

Examination rules

At a press conference in March this year, WAEC said the rules and regulations for dealing with cases of irregularity in the council’s examinations for both the WASSCE and the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) had been revised, and that they included destruction of exhibits, posting live questions on the Internet, refusal to grant timely access to the school premises and the misconduct of examination officials.

It said the revised rules were available on the council’s website and heads of schools were urged to sensitise their candidates to them.

Meanwhile, the government has released GH¢50.5 million to WAEC for the organisation of both the WASSCE-SC and this year’s BECE scheduled for August 7-11, 2023.

According to the breakdown, GH¢10.5 million would be used to conduct the BECE and then GH¢40 million.

In a related development, the BECE for both public schools and private individuals would be written simultaneously from August 7-11, 2023 with over 600,000 candidates.