The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has warned that the release of the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results may be delayed due to the government’s outstanding debt of GH¢166 million.
Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, John Kapi further explained that government has only paid one-third of WAEC’s 2024 budget of GH¢186 million, leaving unpaid arrears of GH¢40.4 million from previous years.
The outstanding amount of GH¢166 million results from a combination of unpaid funds from the 2024 budget and arrears carried over from previous years.
John Kapi disclosed this during a recent interview with Joy News, according to a report by myjoyonline.com.
He noted that WAEC owes invigilators, supervisors and script checkers over GH¢4 million and expressed fear that if these arrears are not settled on time, it could delay the release of the 2024 results.
"When it comes to the WASSCE, we still have quite a lot of money to collect. The fees for 2024 stood at GH¢186.437 million. Now, before the commencement of the examination, the government paid us GH¢60.976 million.
“And so that's all that we got. And that represented just about a third of the amount. So, the rest of the two-thirds has still not been paid. And we still have some outstanding from 2023. That's about GH¢40.4 million.”
He further noted “So, if you put these two together, we are hitting around GH¢165.9 million that we expect the government to provide for us so that we can conclude our activities for the year successfully. If for some reason they are not assured of payment and they choose to keep the scripts, then it is possible that the results will be delayed.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has assured the public that efforts are underway to address the situation.
According to the spokesperson of the ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng, a recent payment of GH₵15 million was released to WAEC, and further payments are being processed to ensure the timely release of this year's results.
“That's why I want to take the opportunity to even assure our parents, our candidates who wrote the exam, that nothing is going to change. We do not believe it will get to a situation where WAEC will say they are delaying the release of student results.
“We have a relationship with WAEC. We have been working with WAEC at every point, the government will owe WAEC because the government does not pay WAEC before. WAEC will have to finish their work before the government pays. So certainly, there will be outstanding financial obligations,” he added.
JKB/ADG
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