The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has clarified why the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) began on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, instead of Monday, June 9, 2025, a break from the usual exam calendar.

According to the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, the decision was largely influenced by the uncertainty surrounding the declaration of a public holiday for the Eid-ul-Adha celebrations.

"Basically, they (government) gave Muslims two days holiday the last time. So, we thought that this time around there was going to be something like that. Unfortunately, we didn't receive any message from the authorities, so to be on the safer side we had to push it to Wednesday", he disclosed in a Joy News interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Thursday, June 12, 2025.

John Kapi emphasised that preparations for national examinations require careful logistical and human resource planning, and without clear direction, WAEC had to act quickly and cautiously.

“The message from the Ministry of the Interior came late, usually, we work ahead of time to prepare logistics and deploy personnel, so we decided not to take chances," he remarked.

The adjustment, he added, was not just about WAEC’s operations, but about fairness to all candidates, especially those returning from religious festivities.

Despite the change in schedule, WAEC confirmed that the examination is progressing smoothly, with all logistics in place and 50–55% of necessary funding already secured.

“We had a successful day on June 11, 2025, all our personnel are on the ground, and we’re confident we’ll meet our timelines to release results on time for SHS placement", he added.

The 2025 BECE commenced on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, and will run until Wednesday, June 18, 2025.

According to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), a total of 603,328 candidates have registered for this year’s examination.

JKB/VPO

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