BECE: We are still processing government’s part payment of debts – WAEC

The Director of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, has disclosed that the West African Examination Council is still processing the recent payment the government made to them following warnings that the final year exam was in limbo.

He urged the government to fast-track the process to enable the council to gain access to the funds in order to augment its internal preparations.

“It will certainly hold if this warrant translates into money, so what we can ask right now is for them to expedite action through the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) process so that it translates into cash for us to be able to go ahead and conduct the examination,” he said on Starr FM midday news.

Mr. Kapi noted that the delays have impacted the council’s preparedness as it has yet to pay for the cost of printing answer booklets and purchasing pencils and other exam materials.

This comes after the government released GHC 47.125 million as part payment of the GHC 93 million it owed the examination management body.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies, Dr. Peter Partey-Anti, has advised students to focus squarely on the upcoming examination and not the politics of delays surrounding it. “The uncertainty is definitely not good, but it does not lie on them to bother so much about whether they will be able to write the exams or not, especially when WAEC is indicating that the exams are coming on and the government is also showing commitment,” Dr. Partey-Anti said.

He admitted, however, that it was disturbing for the final exam candidates to be hearing about the government’s unpreparedness in the news.