WAEC : West African Examination Council

The West African Examinations Council, a non-profit-making organization, with its head-quarters in Accra, Ghana, was established in 1952 after the Governments of Ghana (then Gold Coast), Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia enacted the West African Examinations Council Ordinances in 1951. Liberia became the fifth member of the Council in 1974.

The enactment of the Ordinances was based on the Jeffrey Report, which strongly supported the proposal for the setting up of a regional examining board to harmonise and standardise pre-university assessment procedures in the then British West Africa.

The main objectives of the Council are:

1. To conduct examinations in the public interest;

2. To award certificates, provided that the certificates did not represent lower standards of attainment than equivalent certificates of examining authorities in the United Kingdom .

In Ghana, WAEC is responsible for several examinations. The main ones are the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Junior Secondary Schools and the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) for Senior Secondary Schools.

The results of the BECE are released in August to enable successful and qualified candidates enter Senior Secondary Schools and Technical Instituties at the beginning of the academic year in September. The results lists are sent to the participating schools, whilst each candidate receives a statement of results through his/her school.

The SSCE Results are released 3 months after the conduct of the examination ie. November/December for the School Examination and February for the Private candidates examination. Results sheets showing the results in the examination as a whole for each school are forwarded to participating Schools soon after release. In addition statements of results for individual candidates are sent to the Schools for collection by candidates. Each private candidate is sent a statement of results showing his/her performance in the examination. Results sheets and Statements of results are sent to Schools and private candidates without fee or application.

Candidates can also access results on the WAEC website using a special scratch card which can be purchased from designated vendors across the country.

Website:
www.ghanawaec.org

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