Ghana will join four other West African countries for the common May-June West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates (WASSCE-SC) this year, five years after the country charted a lonely path in the pre-tertiary examination.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, has confirmed to the Daily Graphic that Ghana is set to return to the May-June WASSCE-SC this year.
“Yes, we are returning to the international exams, so we are writing May-June with the other West African countries,” he emphasised.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to shift the WASSCE-SC from May-June to July 20 to September 5, 2020, and in 2021, the examination was administered from August 16 to October 8.
After 2021, all the other member countries of WAEC, namely Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, made efforts to streamline their academic calendars to return to the May-June calendar for the examination.
Ghana Only Version
However, after five years of writing the Ghana Only Version of the WASSCE-SC, candidates from the country will join the other WAEC members for the examination, which begins with the practical or project work next month.
The GES Director-General said preparations started last year for the country to align its WASSCE-SC calendar in order to participate in the examination with the other WAEC members.
Speaking to the paper on the sidelines of the 2025 WAEC Distinction Awards last Thursday, Prof. Davis indicated that schools across the country had been informed to prepare candidates for the examination.
He expressed the hope that Ghanaian candidates would be among the top three in the examination.
Preparations
“That is our hope, that is our belief. We are encouraging our students to do their best to continue to keep Ghana in the limelight,” he said.
With the return of Ghana to the international examination, the GES boss advised candidates to put in their best and not expect any external help since it would not be there anyway.
“They should work hard; they can do it. So, we admonish them to study very hard and then do their best in the exams, and then success would definitely be theirs.
“We are encouraging the teachers to support them to prepare very well to pass their exams and pass very well by themselves,” Prof. Davis said.
The GES Director-General advised the candidates against all forms of examination malpractice and instead urged them to study so that their results would be reflective of their true academic capabilities.
He said this would help the authorities to know how well the educational system was faring.
Suspension
In March 2020, WAEC announced that it was suspending WASSCE-SC until further notice.
WAEC, in a memorandum dated March, 19, 2020, said the suspension was in compliance with the negative impact of the novel and deadly COVID-19 and protocols put in place by the government to prevent its spread.
At the time, WAEC had registered 357,737 candidates to sit the WASSCE in April.
According to WAEC, the negative impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent protocols implemented by the governments of member countries to prevent the spread of the disease had serious implications for the conduct of WASSCE-SC 2020, as agreed by the national offices.
