By Francisca Enchill | Date: September 13, 2025
John Kapi, Head of Public Affairs of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has disclosed that there are plans to change the format for writing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination from the current paper-based examination to Computer-Based-Testing.
This, according to him, has been part of solutions WAEC has had technical meetings on as a measure to curb examination malpractice.
He said WAEC intends to pilot the computerized examination with the General and Advanced Business Certificate examination.
According to him, the decision for the piloting is due to the examination’s smaller candidature nature which allows the Council to manage them at the regional capitals where access to uninterrupted internet connectivity is assured.
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“We are also thinking about rolling out computer-based testing. It is something that we have taught about. We have had technical team meetings, we want to pilot that with one of our small examinations, the General and Advanced Business Certificate examination. This is an examination that doesn’t have a large candidature so we can manage them at the regional capitals where we are sure of internet connectivity.
“Once we are able to do that we believe that we can begin the process so that if that works, we can replicate that, but again these things will call for a lot of investments,” Mr Kapi noted.
He announced this intended reforms during an interview on the Breakfast Daily show on Channel One TV on September 12, 2025 .
His announcement comes on the back of GhProbe’s investigations that exposed examination malpractice during the conduct of the 2025 BECE.
The exposeʹ titled, Dark World of BECE, showed how some staff of the Ghana Education Service, mandated to supervise the examination as invigilators, supervisors and School Improvement Support Officers, compromised the integrity of examination by supplying candidates with written and printed answers to all the BECE questions.
The investigation also exposed extreme reliance on mobile phones and artificial intelligence in the examination halls.
The Dark World of BECE investigative piece has led to calls by various stakeholders to initiate policy reforms to restore the integrity of external examinations in Ghana.