A High Court in Accra, Ghana on Thursday tossed out a request by West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) for a stay of execution to delay releasing the withheld results of 10,000 examination candidates, and slapped a fine of GHS 5,000 on the exam body.
On December 30, 2024, WAEC cited alleged examination malpractices and anomalies as the reason for withholding the results of about 10,000 WASSCE applicants. Four students petitioned the court on behalf of all affected applicants on January 30, 2025.
The court ruled that the council’s explanation for keeping the results secret was vague and contradictory, and ordered WAEC to make them public without any negative footnotes.
The court also decided that preserving the findings indefinitely might impede the pupils’ ability to advance academically and professionally.
WAEC requested a stay of execution pending an appeal in spite of this decision. However, presiding court Justice Ali Baba Abature rejected the plea at a hearing on February 20, 2025, adjudging that WAEC had not adequately justified its actions.
WAEC attempts to halt WASSCE results release
In response to the High Court’s January 30 decision, the WAEC sought a stay of execution on February 3, 2025.
WAEC stated that the respondents’ knowledge that their results would be withheld due to their involvement in examination misconduct was not taken into account by the High Court.
The WAEC said that it had an obligation to disclose results that “accurately” reflected the findings of the tests it carried out, both to the general public and to the postsecondary institutions that depended on the results.
According to WAEC, enquiries into purported exam malpractice were “still in progress, and the results’ public release will compromise the investigation process.”
In response to WAEC, the affected candidates denied the allegations of exam misconduct, adding that they had already purchased university application forms, and that the tertiary institutions had given them deadline to upload their results.
Read also: WAEC extends registration deadline for 2025 WASSCE private candidates
WAEC to release withheld WASSCE results on February 28
At a news conference in Accra on February 7, 2025, WAEC stated that all cases of malpractices under investigation would be finished and the results released by February 28, 2025.
The National Union of Ghana Students also announced plans to stage a demonstration against WAEC for withholding the over 10,000 results of the 2024 WASSCE on February 25.
On January 29, a mob of irate parents and students stormed the West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) Kumasi office, demanding the release of the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results that had been withheld.