Schools and Private candidates who have registered for the 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will simultaneously begin the exams on October 17 and end on October 21, 2022.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in a statement to announce the date for the examination said this will be the first time both schools and private candidates will take the exams at the same time.

This, the Council said is due to the “consistently low entries for the BECE for Private Candidates over the years.”

A total of 552,276 candidates from 18,501 schools across the country will take the exams for school candidates at 2,023 centres while a total of 1,132 private candidates have registered for the exams and will take the papers at 15 selected centres.

Out of the number for school candidates, 276,988 are males with being 275,288 females. The private candidates are made up of 634 males and 498 females.

The Council said the total number of candidates representing the schools is 3.48% less than the 2021 figure which was 572,167.

For private candidates, the number is 6.09% higher than last year’s figure of 1,067.

According to WAEC, all appropriate measures have been put in place to ensure a successful examination.

“The Council is advising candidates to be focused and be on the alert for the activities of "examination social media racketeers" whose primary aim is to make money through deception,” WAEC said in a statement on Thursday.

The Council further cautioned candidates against any malpractice such as collusion and bringing in mobile phones and other foreign materials into the examination hall.

“Candidates are reminded that collusion can be detected in their scripts during marking and that the penalties for examination malpractice include Cancellation of Subject/Entire Results.”

Meanwhile, the Council has urged all examination officials (Supervisors, Invigilators, Distributors, etc.) to comply with the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the examination and refrain from being facilitators of malpractice.

WAEC also wished all candidates success in the examination.