This year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (WASSCE-SC) will now be written from August 5 to September 27, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has confirmed.
The updated timetable revises the previously announced schedule from July 1 to August 31, 2024.
Likewise, the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is set for July 8 to July 12.
The revised WASSCE date was conveyed to regional directors through a circular dated March 12, 2024, signed by the acting Director of the Schools and Instructions Division at GES, Prince C. Agyemang-Duah.
"The Ghana Education Service management informs all senior high school (SHS) heads that the date for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination 2024 for School Candidates, previously circulated to the schools, has been changed," it said.
The letter urged regional directors of education to communicate the information to all heads of SHSs to take note of the new date and prepare the candidates for the examination accordingly.
“The new date supersedes the earlier date communicated to the schools,” it said.
Although no official reason was assigned for the new date, sources indicated that it was to give the candidates enough time to prepare for the examination.
WAEC
When contacted, the Head of Public Affairs of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi, confirmed that with the new development, the country would continue with the Ghana Only Version of the WASSCE-SC.
It will be the third time Ghanaian candidates will be writing the WASSCE-SC alone.
This is because the other four-member countries of the WAEC — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and
The Gambia — have returned to the May/June calendar after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There has been some misinformation that we have to clarify.
The fact that it is Ghana Only does not change anything about the examination.
It is still the same process that we go through and the same conditions that go with the examination in the other member countries of WAEC,” he said.
For example, he said, there were about 15 subjects that were compiled by officers from outside the country and so it was still going to continue the same way.
Besides that, “we still have the international panels that do the final marking schemes for the marking of the papers, then another international panel does the final awards which lead to the grading”.
Difference
The only difference, Mr Kapi said, was the date for the examination, but the processes, the nature of the examination and everything remained the same as those for the other member countries of WAEC.
“It is just that we have decided to push ours further so that our students are able to make time for it to be able to write and write it well,” he explained.
Asked whether the results would be released on time following the change in date for the examination, he answered in the affirmative.
“We usually have a timetable after examinations.
So, obviously yes.
We will be able to do the results and it will be out early enough for the students to be able to go to their tertiary institutions.
Yes, I believe so,” he added.
On the candidature for the WASSCE-SC, he said the registration portal was opened on March 11 and would be closed on April 19, 2024.
