NewzThe Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) says the concerns surrounding the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results are the most widespread it has witnessed in recent years. According to the Association, complaints have been received from schools across all 16 regions, prompting it to compile evidence for submission to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, GNAPS Communications and Partnership Manager, Eredion Gien Joseph, said although concerns arise after almost every examination cycle, this year’s situation stands out because of the sheer number and spread of complaints.
“Each year there is always one concern or another. But there has never been a collective concern; there has never been a collective aggregation of issues as compared to this year,” he said. “This year seems to be a very peculiar year that we are wondering what at all could have gone wrong to make the concerns this widespread.” Mr Gien Joseph said the Association is using its district, zonal and regional structures to gather information from member schools before formally engaging WAEC.
“We are compiling all the concerns. It is only the necessity of time that prompted us to state while we are still working on that process,” he said. As to the numbers that are concerned, it is all across the entire country.” He added that similar concerns have been expressed by parents and guardians on various media platforms, suggesting the issue extends beyond private school operators.
GNAPS has maintained that the concerns relate to possible errors in the collation and processing of results rather than allegations of deliberate discrimination against private school candidates. The Association has appealed to WAEC to conduct a thorough review of the concerns to safeguard public confidence in the examination system. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has dismissed suggestions that candidates from private schools may have been disadvantaged in the marking of the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), insisting that examiners do not know the origin of the scripts they assess.
The clarification follows concerns raised by the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), which has alleged discrepancies in this year’s BECE results and called for an audit. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, explained that the Council’s marking process is designed to ensure fairness by concealing candidates’ identities and school affiliations from examiners. According to him, scripts are identified only by centre numbers and candidate ranges, making it impossible for examiners to distinguish whether a script belongs to a candidate from a private or public school.
“We examine all of them the same way,” he said. “If you were to bring scripts and tell me that these are from school A or school B, I’ll not be able to identify unless I go back to the database and check which school centre number this is or that.” Mr Kapi stressed that all candidates are assessed using the same marking schemes and standards, regardless of the schools they attended. His comments come after the Ghana National Association of Private Schools claimed it had received reports from member schools across the country alleging inconsistencies in this year’s results, including grades that do not reflect candidates’ academic performance and subjects that candidates allegedly did not register for.
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