WAEC releases 2023 BECE results; cancels subjects results of 315 candidates

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the provisional results of the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for both school and private candidates.

However, certain subjects results of 315 candidates—312 school candidates and 3 private candidates have been canceled due to various examination irregularities.

In a statement dated Thursday, November 9, WAEC's Head of Public Affairs said "Following the completion of investigations into several cases of irregularity detected during the conduct of the examination and marking of scripts, the 34th Meeting of the Final Awards and Examiners' Appointment Committee for BECE, held on Monday, 6th November, 2023 approved...Cancellation of Subject Results of 312 school candidates and 3 private candidates for bringing foreign materials, namely, prepared notes, text books and printed materials into the examination hall or colluding with other candidates."

The statement added that "Cancellation of Entire Results of 41 school candidates and 1 private candidate for possession of mobile phones in the examination hall."

This year's BECE recorded a total of 602,739 candidates comprising 300,404 males and 300,496 females from 18,993 participating schools.

The examinations were conducted smoothly across 2,137 centres in the country.

While WAEC has released the provisional results, the council continues to investigate reported cases of mass cheating during the exams.

As a result, the subjects results of 22,270 candidates are being scrutinized and their results may be cancelled or upheld based on the outcome.

WAEC has reminded all stakeholders to be vigilant of fraudsters promising to upgrade results for a fee, stressing that the results issued are authentic and can be verified.