The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has revealed that ten Private Senior High Schools which participated in the 2021 examination are no more operating.
The council noted that the reason for their collapse is a result of the government’s Free Senior High School policy.
According to the WAEC, out of 314 registered private Senior High Schools which took part in the 2021 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), only 304 registered for the examination this year.
Addressing the media on the update of the ongoing WASSCE in Accra on Monday, August 22, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, Madam Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said the 2022 Ghana version is being organised for 422,883 candidates from 977 schools in Ghana.
Madam Teye-Cudjoe said the schools are made up of 673 public schools and 304 private schools.
The number of public schools this year have increased from 651 in 2021 to 673 in 2022 whiles the figure has decreased for private schools from 314 in 2021 to 304 this year.
Out of the total of 422,883 candidates writing 2022 WASSCE, 203,753 are males and 219,130 are females indicating a decrease of 5.25% compared to the entry figure of 446,352 in 2021.
She added that the examination is taking place in 775 centers across the nation.
The examination, which started on August 1, 2022, with the Visual Art Project Work option is expected to end on September 27, 2022, with Information Communication Paper 3 practical.
The Public Affairs Director said the council has made a special arrangement for candidates with assessment needs such as braille papers for the visually-impaired, large print papers for candidates with low vision, additional time (one hour 30 minutes) for visually impaired, hearing-impaired, Cerebral Palsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder candidates and the use of computers for the challenged.
She said the format of the examination consists of orals, practicals, project works and theory papers adding that the dates and timetables for the conduct of papers have been sent to the various heads of institutions across board on May 30, 2022, or on WAEC website on www.waecgh.org.
Madam Teye-Cudjoe said the various security measures put in place by the examination body to ensure security and examination-free leakage are to track and arrest dealers and operators of rogue websites, track movement of question papers, use of number combination padlocks in addition to ordinary padlocks for all security bags containing question paper packets, an enhanced inspection of malpractice prone centers and surveillance and many others.
She cautioned candidates and members of the general public about scammers posting 2022 examination papers administered in other West African countries to advertise their websites to deceive many candidates.
The Head of Legal, Rev. Victor Brew revealed that out of the 13 cases brought to their notice about examination leakages from 2020 to 2022, three has been dealt with as two persons were convicted and fined while the court releases the other victim and 10 cases are currently in various stages of the investigation.