The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has provided further details and clarity on the marking of the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) scripts, saying that its assessment and grading processes are 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, the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, John Kapi said at a press conference in Accra on Thursday (August 6, 2026).
He stressed that in the 2026 BECE for School Candidates, WAEC employed rigorous quality assurance procedures throughout the entire process.
That was to ensure that there was anonymity between the examiners and the scripts they marked, he added.
Swapping
“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.
“Scripts are marked strictly according to approved standard marking schemes developed by experts in the various subject areas and all examiners (from both private and public schools) are made to acquaint themselves with it before the marking process commences,” Mr Kapi stated.
The Head of Public Affairs of WAEC added that “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”.
Mr Kapi said the council used the Stanine also known as Standard Nine Grading System, a statistical method of reporting candidates’ performance relative to the overall performance of all candidates in a particular subject.
He said the Stanine Grading System used for the marking of the BECE was a recommendation from the Ministry of Education.
He said the state or the government was the owner of the examination and so if the Ministry of Education decided to change the Stanine Grading System to the Criterion Reference System, it would do it.
"So it is for those who own the examination to tell us whether they want to continue with the Stanine or not," he said, and added that the grading system, also known as the Standard Nine Grading System, was a statistical method of reporting candidates’ performance relative to the overall performance of all candidates in a particular subject.
Population
The entire population of examination candidates, Mr Kapi said, was considered one cohort.
“Out of this lot, the first four per cent score grade one. The next seven per cent, grade two; the next 12 per cent, grade three; the next 17 per cent, grade four; the next 20 per cent, grade five; the next 17 per cent, grade six; the next 12 per cent, grade seven; the next seven per cent, grade eight; and the last four per cent, grade nine.
“The grades are interpreted as follows: Grade 1 - Highest performance; Grade 2 -Higher performance; Grade 3 - High performance; Grade 4 - High average; Grade 5 - Average; Grade 6 - Low average; Grade 7 - Low performance; Grade 8 - Lower performance and Grade 9 - Lowest performance,” Mr Kapi said.
Unlike the system that assigned grades based on fixed percentage score ranges, Mr Kapi said the stanine system considered the overall distribution of candidates’ performance in each subject.
Consequently, he said the grade award reflected a candidate’s relative standing among all candidates who sat the examination.
“This approach promotes fairness by accounting for variations in the difficulty of examination papers from year to year and ensures that standards remain consistent over time. 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 school attended,” he said.
Fairness
Mr Kapi said the council remained firmly committed to preserving the credibility of its examinations and that every candidate was given an equal opportunity to demonstrate his or her ability, and every script was treated impartially throughout the assessment process.
WAEC, he said, therefore, would urge members of the public to ignore claims that it deliberately disadvantaged candidates from private schools.
He said such allegations undermined public confidence in the examination system and were not supported by evidence.
“The council encourages stakeholders who have genuine concerns regarding examination results to utilize the established channels for seeking clarification rather than relying on speculation or misinformation.
“The council appreciates the continued confidence reposed in it by the government of Ghana, the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, school authorities, parents, and the general public that the council will continue to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, transparency, and integrity in the conduct of public examinations,” he emphasised.
