The premises of the Bono Regional Office of the West Africa Examination Council (WEAC) in Sunyani witnessed chaotic scenes, as hundreds of aggrieved parents and guardians besieged there on Wednesday.
It was however tough for the police to maintain law and order as the personnel of the service could not control the crowd of the visibly angry parents and guardians, being accompanied by their children and wards.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the examination body invited the parents and their children through text messages to answer questions over the cancellation of some subjects in the 2024 edition of the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Checks reveal that WAEC cancelled the results of 4,591 candidates who sat for the 2024 WASSCE.
Further checks showed that among the affected candidates, 4,108 had their subject results cancelled for bringing unauthorised materials into the exam hall, while 483 lost their entire results for using mobile phones during the exams.
Additionally, the council withheld the results of 990 candidates, 781 for specific subjects and 209 for their entire results pending further investigations.
However, during a visit to the WAEC premises around 1030hours, some of the parents and guardians told the GNA that their children and wards could not be blamed for the alleged malpractices that characterised the examination.
“In fact, this has been a recurring problem, and we can’t blame our children for that.
WAEC should put in place measures to stop the leakages of the examination papers,” Mr Osei Ansu, one of the parents, told the GNA.
He also called for government intervention for the release of the withheld results, urging the council to be proactive in tackling the leakage of the exams papers and malpractices.
Another parent, Madam Joyce Anima, also described the scene at the office premises as unfortunate and shameful, saying “WAEC should know better now”.
Mrs Gloria Bayor, the Bono Regional Out-going Branch Controller of WAEC told the media the council invited parents and their children from 24 schools, being the first batch of the affected graduates.
“We have to provide opportunities for the graduates to know why we have to cancel or withheld their results, so we have to show them the evidence that this is what was detected during the marking of their papers,” she explained.
