The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has increased the cost of registration for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from N13,950 to N18,000 to meet the demands of economic reality.
This was disclosed by its Head of Nigeria National Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, on Monday while announcing that the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, will be conducted in May/June.
The body has in recent times slated its exams for August and October while May/June was initially the month scheduled for the examinations, thus a revert to its normal calendar.
According to Areghan, “Let me thank the Federal and the various Ministries of Education for working so hard to stabilize the academic calendar.
“Accordingly, as a result of the return to normalcy, the Honourable Minister of Education has requested that the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022 should be conducted in May/June 2022.
“This position has been communicated to the Registrar to Council in Accra and he has assured us that it will be reckoned with in drawing up the International Time-table for the examination”.
The WAEC boss also noted that; “by the special grace of God, the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022 will be taking place in May/June 2022. Entries for the examination will be floated on Monday, December 6, 2021”.
Explaining the reason for the increase in its registration fee, Areghan said: ” Owing to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic which has brought the global economy to its knees, the unabating spiraling inflation in the country as can be seen in the general cost of doing business and the multiplier effect of the unabating insecurity in the country, which have consequential effects on the cost of our operations, it is no longer possible to continue to provide services with the current fee of N13,950.00 per candidate.
“Furthermore, our ad-hoc workers – Supervisors, Examiners, Checkers, item Writers and indeed, all examination functionaries, have been agitating for improved remunerations.
“We have received approval from the appropriate quarters with effect from the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022, to charge N18,000.00 per candidate. We are, therefore, asking all school principals to collect N18,000.00 per candidate for registration.
“A part of this new fee has been dedicated to the enhancement of the remunerations for the various examination functionaries and our Governing Board has graciously approved the remunerations, which will come into effect from the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022.
He claimed, “any amount beyond this ceiling will not be to our consent or knowledge and will definitely not come to the purse of the West African Examinations Council”.
