The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has assured candidates and parents dissatisfied with their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results that a formal procedure exists for requesting a re-marking of scripts. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, August 3, WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, explained that candidates who believe their results do not reflect their performance have the right to seek a review—but only through their schools.
“First of all, anybody who is not satisfied with their results has the opportunity to ask for a remark,” Mr. Kapi stated. He clarified that applications cannot be made directly to WAEC; instead, candidates must initiate the process via their schools. “The process is simple. You go back to the school, and the school, through the district examinations officer, applies to us for the scripts to be remarked,” he said.
According to him, once WAEC receives such a request, officials retrieve the candidate’s scripts and arrange for them to be reviewed by the appropriate chief examiner. “The office would get officers to look for the scripts; they’ll go through them, and invite the chief examiner to come and take a look at each of the subjects,” he explained.
Mr Kapi confirmed that candidates are required to pay for the remarking service because it involves additional work outside the normal examination process. “The candidates have to pay because if somebody is asking for remarking, we are supposed to invite the chief examiner and then pay them extra to do the marking for it. That is why we would ask that the candidates pay for the remarking,” he said.
However, he was unable to state the exact cost, explaining that the fee varies depending on the request. “The cost I would not be able to mention immediately because it varies depending on what the fellow is asking for. I don’t have the figures readily in front of me,” he said.
On how long the process takes, Mr Kapi said applications are usually completed after a few weeks, although the duration depends on how quickly the request is submitted. “The process still lasts beyond a couple of weeks depending on how early the request is made,” he said.
Mr Kapi also addressed concerns about whether remarking has ever resulted in changes to candidates’ grades. Responding to a question on how often reviews lead to an upgrade, he acknowledged that WAEC has changed grades in some cases but said that such instances are uncommon.
“Yes, we’ve had to adjust the grades of some people who probably came and asked for remarking. But that’s negligible, really,” he said. He added that WAEC does not keep statistics on the number of grades changed after reviews because they occur infrequently. “Most of the time they come and even if there’s a change in the mark, it is still within the grade range. And so there’s no effect whatsoever,” he explained.
Mr Kapi further revealed that remarking does not always result in higher grades. “In fact, invariably, some of them have actually gone lower than expected,” he said. He said WAEC ensures transparency throughout the process by allowing candidates, parents or guardians to inspect the reviewed scripts where necessary.
“The candidates are given the opportunity to, or the parent, the guardian, whoever it is who comes with them, they will have the opportunity of taking a look at the script and convincing themselves that indeed that was the actual performance and that’s the grade that the candidate deserved,” Mr Kapi said. However, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the provisional results of candidates who sat the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates.
WAEC said 3,601 registered candidates were absent from the examination. The Council also announced sanctions against candidates found to have breached examination regulations after investigations into reported irregularities.
Source: Clara Seshie
