The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it applies the same marking schemes and grading systems to candidates in public and private schools who sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The Council said candidates were assessed under uniform procedures, with grades determined by individual performance and established grading standards.

Mr John K. Kapi, Head of Public Affairs at the WAEC National Office, stated this at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday in response to concerns raised by the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) over the 2026 BECE results.

“The Council does not operate different marking schemes or grading systems for public and private schools. This misconception has been addressed repeatedly by the council over the years,” he said.

Mr Kapi said “everyone is given an equal opportunity to demonstrate his or her ability, and every script is treated impartially throughout the assessment process.”

GNACOPS had raised concerns over the results, alleging that private schools were deliberately awarded poor grades.

Mr Kapi described the allegation as “false, and misleading, and have no factual basis.”

He urged the public to disregard claims that WAEC deliberately disadvantaged candidates from private schools.

“Such allegations undermine public confidence in the examination system and are not supported by evidence,” he said.

Mr Kapi said WAEC’s assessment and grading processes were guided by internationally accepted principles of fairness, objectivity, consistency and integrity.

“Under no circumstances does WAEC discriminate against candidates on the basis of whether they attended private or public schools.”

Mr Kapi said the Council maintained strict quality assurance procedures throughout the marking process, including measures to ensure the anonymity of examiners and candidates.

“we ensure there is anonymity between the examiners and the scripts they mark. This is done by swapping the scripts of candidates across regions, coding and packaging of scripts, and random allocation of scripts to examiners among others,” he said.

Mr Kapi said scripts were marked using approved standard marking schemes developed by subject experts, which examiners were required to study before the marking exercise.

“Accordingly, a candidate’s grade is determined solely by his or her performance in relation to established grading standards and not by the type of schools attended,” he said.

Mr Kapi said WAEC had used the Stanine, also known as the Standard Nine Grading System, for the past decade.

He explained that the system was a statistical method of reporting candidates’ performance relative to the overall performance of all candidates in a particular subject.

Mr Kapi said the Ministry of Education recommended the use of the Standard Nine Grading System.

He said WAEC remained committed to protecting the credibility of its examinations and would continue to uphold professionalism, transparency and integrity in examination administration.

Mr Kapi urged stakeholders with concerns about examination results to use established channels for clarification rather than relying on speculation or misinformation.

He said GNACOPS had petitioned the Ministry of Education over the 2026 BECE results and that WAEC was ready to respond to any concerns raised.

Mr Ernest Agyapong, Head of Tests Division at WAEC, said the Council was open to candidates seeking remarking of their scripts.

He said remarking attracted fees communicated to candidates and cautioned that results after the process could increase, remain unchanged or decrease.

Mr Agyapong said candidates had three months within which to seek redress over examination results.

He explained that petitions should be channelled through school heads and District Directors of Education to the Council.

Mr Agyapong said that withheld results from the 2026 BECE would be released after investigations by August 15, 2026.