The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has attributed apparent changes in the WASSCE results of some candidates to errors made by schools during the submission of examination entries.
The Council said some schools entered incorrect subject codes for candidates, resulting in their results being processed under subjects or curricula different from those they were originally supposed to be assessed under.
WAEC Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, explained that the situation had created the impression that the Council was changing candidates’ grades after the release of the results.
He said preliminary investigations into one of the cases showed that the school involved had entered incorrect subject codes for some candidates.
According to Mr Kapi, the current and old curricula have different codes for subjects such as Integrated Science and General Science. An incorrect code could therefore cause a candidate’s result to be processed under the wrong grading system.
“Once you enter the wrong subject code, it will grade you according to the old system,” he said on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday, September 10.
He said the school’s IT officer subsequently admitted that an error had occurred during the entry process, prompting the school to correct the affected entries.
Mr Kapi stressed that the apparent changes were therefore not the result of WAEC altering grades that had already been properly awarded.
“So it is not because we have given the grade and then overnight the grade has changed. It’s because they entered the wrong code,” he explained.
He said responsibility for submitting accurate candidate entries rests with schools, which are required to confirm the subjects being taken by each candidate before the information is uploaded onto WAEC’s electronic system.
“The errors are not coming from WAEC. It is the entries that have not been correctly done,” he stated.
Mr Kapi, however, assured candidates and parents who have concerns about their results that WAEC remains available to investigate genuine complaints.
He said candidates or their parents could formally request a review of the relevant examination scripts to determine how the candidate performed.
“They can come here and request and the script will be brought to them and they’ll see for themselves how the candidates have performed,” he said.
The WAEC official also responded to reports that about 165 candidates in the Upper East Region were uncertain about their Mathematics results because their objective answer sheets could not immediately be traced.
He said he had seen the report on social media but was yet to establish the facts surrounding the matter.
Mr Kapi nevertheless assured affected candidates and parents that WAEC had mechanisms for dealing with cases where parts of an examination record could not immediately be located.
He cited the Council’s procedures for what it describes as “clemency cases”, which allow appropriate action to be taken where examination records are incomplete or unavailable.
“If indeed it is true, which I have my doubts, I cannot confirm, there’s a way by which this can be graded,” he said.
He urged parents and candidates not to panic, stressing that efforts would be made to trace the records and ensure that affected candidates were treated fairly.
Mr Kapi also rejected suggestions that the 2026 WASSCE results process had descended into chaos, saying the scale of the exercise required WAEC to handle individual cases carefully.
“We are dealing with candidates in the region of 720,000. Each of these must be treated uniquely,” he said.
He added that the Council’s willingness to investigate complaints was aimed at identifying and correcting genuine errors while protecting the integrity of the examination process.
