The Ghana Education Service (GES) has confirmed that everything is in place for the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), scheduled to run from Monday, May 4 to May 11, 2026.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, the Director-General of the GES, Prof Ernest Kofi Davis, outlined the scale of this year’s examination, noting that 620,141 candidates drawn from 20,395 schools will take part nationwide. He said the figure marks a 2.7 per cent rise compared to last year, with 304,349 boys and 315,792 girls making up the total cohort.
Each candidate is expected to sit for 11 subjects over the examination period.
Prof Davis stressed that the Service, working closely with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and other partners, has completed all logistical and operational preparations required to ensure a smooth and credible exercise.
He explained that the examination will be administered across 2,303 centres nationwide, supported by 2,303 supervisors, 2,070 assistant supervisors, and 21,791 invigilators.
“These figures demonstrate the resolve to ensure that the conduct of the examination is credible.
“All examination materials and relevant logistics needed to ensure the successful conduct of examinations are in place.
“WAEC and GES are collaborating with the security agencies to ensure law and order at the various examination centres,” Prof Davis gave the assurance.
Turning his attention to malpractice concerns, the GES Director-General said examination cheating remains a serious threat to the integrity of educational assessment in Ghana.
He warned that such practices distort results and weaken the reliability of data used for education planning and policy decisions.
“At the end of the day, the results of the student who cheated in the examination will never reflect the student’s true academic capability.
“This often leads to wrong judgment of learning outcomes in the country and has the tendency to affect formulation of education policy in our country,” Prof Davis stated.
He further urged candidates to prepare well and approach the exams with confidence, noting that all questions will be based strictly on the approved syllabus.
“There is no need for students to panic or fear or be anxious because the questions will definitely come from the syllabus or the curriculum. The questions will, therefore, be within their experience.”
On examination malpractice, commonly referred to as ‘apo’, Prof Davis issued a firm warning, saying measures had been tightened to eliminate any form of cheating.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that students don’t get ‘apo’,” he said.
He also cautioned supervisors and invigilators to maintain strict professionalism throughout the exercise, adding that sanctions would be applied to anyone found aiding malpractice.
“I wish to remind all supervisors and regional directors of education that all teachers and supervisors, who were linked to examination malpractice last year and are being processed for sanctions are banned from the examination centres. They are not expected to have anything to do with the examinations,” he stressed.
Prof Davis appealed to teachers, parents, school authorities, traditional leaders, security agencies, and the media to support efforts aimed at safeguarding the credibility of the exercise.
He also encouraged the public to report any suspected malpractice to WAEC or GES, adding that dedicated hotlines would be made available soon for that purpose.
