The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has firmly denied allegations that candidates from private schools are disadvantaged in the marking of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), insisting that its assessment procedures are transparent, objective and applied uniformly to every candidate.

The Council's response follows concerns raised by the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), which questioned aspects of the provisional 2026 BECE results and called for an independent audit over what it described as grading irregularities that could affect senior high school placement.

Addressing a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC, John Kapi, said assertions that the Council deliberately awards lower grades to candidates from private schools were unfounded and unsupported by evidence.

"These allegations are false, misleading and have no factual basis. WAEC wishes to assure all stakeholders, parents, guardians, educational authorities, school proprietors and the public that the Council's assessment and grading processes are guided by internationally accepted principles of fairness, consistency, objectivity and integrity," he said.

Mr Kapi explained that candidates' scripts are assessed without regard to whether they come from public or private schools, stressing that all examiners follow the same marking schemes and quality assurance procedures approved by the Council.

He further clarified that the BECE uses the internationally recognised stanine grading system, which ranks candidates according to their performance relative to the overall performance of the entire examination cohort rather than assigning grades based on school category.

According to him, the grading methodology is designed to ensure equity and consistency nationwide, making it impossible for candidates to be disadvantaged solely because they attend a private institution.

Responding to demands by GNAPS for an independent review of the results, Mr Kapi said the Council had no objection to such an exercise provided it was professionally conducted with clearly defined terms of reference.

He urged parents, school proprietors and other stakeholders with concerns about specific results to use WAEC's official review and enquiry procedures instead of relying on speculation or misinformation circulating in the public domain.

The controversy emerged after GNAPS issued a statement alleging widespread discrepancies in the provisional BECE results received by member schools across all 16 regions. The association argued that reports from school heads suggested inconsistencies in the grading process and warned that the alleged anomalies could adversely affect candidates seeking placement into senior high schools under the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

WAEC, however, maintained that the examination process remains credible and that stringent quality control measures are employed at every stage—from script marking and moderation to grading and result processing—to safeguard the integrity of the examination.

The Council released the provisional 2026 BECE results on July 29. At the time, it announced the cancellation of subject results for 601 candidates who were found to have engaged in examination malpractice. It also withheld the entire results of 167 candidates and the subject results of 2,722 candidates pending investigations into suspected examination irregularities.

The Council has assured candidates and the general public that all outstanding cases will be determined after the necessary investigations are concluded in accordance with its established regulations.