Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
Financial constraints may force the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to postpone its forthcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
John Kapi, the Director of Public Affairs at WAEC, estimates that the council will require approximately GH₵90 million to administer the examinations.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News on June 21, he indicated that even if the exam papers were printed, there weren’t enough funds to send WAEC staff to oversee the exams or distribute them, therefore the exam might be postponed until those funds were received.
“On our part, as I have said to the media over the last few days, we have managed go get bond paper to print our question papers. So all preliminary preparations have been done. What we need is to get money from the government and then we send our officers out there and conduct the examination.
“In view of that, we are afraid we might have to postpone the exam because there is no money anywhere for us to use for the examination,” he said.
He indicated that in order to give the examination board time to conduct the exams, the postponement would continue until the funds are released.
WAEC “has never had to postpone any exam because of monetary issues, but as it stands that is the only option,” according to Mr. Kapi, who added the delay in receiving cash was unusual.
As per the Director of Public Affairs, the Ministry of Education has not complied with their demands, even though they have made efforts to persuade the government to give funds for the organization to operate.
He has counseled students getting ready for the forthcoming BECE to stick with their studies in the interim.
A week ago, John Kapi, said, “For BECE, we still have an outstanding payment of ₵698,500, and then for the 2024 examination, we expect a total amount of ₵95,837,306 from the government.”
He noted that so far, the council has received ₵2,284,618, leaving an outstanding balance of ₵93,552,688 needed for the BECE.
He emphasized that the $2 million that was collected is not enough to make the examination smooth.
This week, the minority caucus on the parliament’s Education Committee brought up the matter for the first time, demanding a payment plan from the administration.
According to Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, ranking member of the Education Committee, he suggested to the committee chairman that they arrange a meeting with the national officer for WAEC, the minister of education, and the minister of finance in order to create a plan for releasing monies.
He said that by doing this, WAEC would be able to conduct the BECE and make sure they have the funding needed to fulfill their goal.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
