The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has assured candidates and parents who are dissatisfied with their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results that they can apply for a remarking of their examination scripts through a formal process.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, August 3, WAEC Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, said candidates who believe their results do not reflect their performance have the right to request a review.
“First of all, anybody who is not satisfied with their results has the opportunity to seek or ask for remarking,” he said.
Mr Kapi explained that candidates cannot apply directly to WAEC but must begin the process through their schools.
“The process is simple. You go back to the school, and the school, through the district examinations officer, would apply to us asking for the scripts to be remarked,” he said.
He said once WAEC receives the request, officials retrieve the candidate’s scripts and arrange for them to be reviewed by the relevant chief examiner.
“The office would get officers to look for the scripts; they’ll go through them, and invite the chief examiner to come and take a look at each of the subjects,” he explained.
Mr Kapi noted that candidates are required to pay for the remarking because it involves additional costs, including engaging examiners to review the scripts.
“The candidates have to pay because if somebody is asking for remarking, we are supposed to invite the chief examiner and then pay them extra to do the marking for it,” he said.
He, however, said he could not immediately provide the exact cost because the fees vary depending on the nature of the request.
On the duration of the process, Mr Kapi said the review is usually completed within a few weeks, although the timeline depends on how quickly the application is submitted.
“The process still lasts beyond a couple of weeks depending on how early the request is made,” he said.
Addressing concerns about whether remarking leads to changes in grades, Mr Kapi said WAEC has recorded instances where candidates’ grades were adjusted, although such cases are rare.
“Yes, we’ve had to adjust the grades of some people who probably came and asked for remarking. But that’s negligible, really,” he said.
He added that most changes in marks do not affect candidates’ final grades because they remain within the same grade range.
“Most of the time they come and even if there’s a change in the mark, it is still within the grade range. And so there’s no effect whatsoever,” he explained.
Mr Kapi also revealed that remarking does not always result in an improvement, as some candidates have recorded lower marks after their scripts were reviewed.
“In fact, invariably, some of them have actually gone lower than expected,” he said.
He said WAEC maintains transparency during the process by allowing candidates, parents or guardians to inspect reviewed scripts where necessary.
“The candidates are given the opportunity to, or the parent, the guardian, whoever it is who comes with them, they will have the opportunity of taking a look at the script and convincing themselves that indeed that was the actual performance and that’s the grade that the candidate deserved,” he said.
The comments come after WAEC released the provisional results of candidates who sat the 2026 BECE for School Candidates.
The Council disclosed that 3,601 registered candidates were absent from the examination and announced sanctions against candidates found to have breached examination regulations following investigations into reported irregularities.
