Editorial: Good Luck To All Students As BECE Starts Tomorrow

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for both school and private candidates will be held from Wednesday, 11 June to Wednesday, 18 June 2025. In a statement issued by the Council on Monday, June 9, 2025 WAEC disclosed that a total of 603,328 candidates, made up of 297,250 males and 306,078 females from 20,395 participating schools have registered for this year’s school examination.

The Council also reported that 1,661 private candidates, comprising 858 males and 803 females, will sit the exam this year. According to WAEC, the examination for school candidates will take place at 2,237 centres across the country, while fifteen centres, mainly in the regional capitals, will be used for the private candidates.

The Council assured the public that provisions have been made for candidates with special educational needs. “Heads of school, parents and guardians should be rest assured that adequate provision has been made to ensure that no child is left behind as far as the examination is concerned,” WAEC said.

WAEC has reminded all stakeholders about the rules and regulations for handling examination irregularities. These include rules on “having inscriptions on any part of the body or clothing,” “posting live questions on the internet,” “refusal to grant timely access into the school premises,” “misconduct of examination officials,” and “multiple registration of candidates in both public and private schools.” The Council called on all stakeholders to ensure a peaceful and orderly examination environment.

The ability of a nation to compete effectively on the international front hinges on the quality of its education. With this in mind, it is okay to conclude that cheating in exams undermines the standard of education in a country and consequently hinders its ability to compete at the world stage. Indeed, students who cheat in exams become poor decision makers in their careers.

One of the major reasons that make students cheat in exams is the over-emphasis that has been placed on passing exams. Apparently, more effort has been directed towards passing of exams than learning due to the high competition in the job market. Similarly, most interviewers focus more on certificates rather than the knowledge of the candidate. It is no wonder most learning institutions these days focus on teaching how to pass an exam and completely disregard impacting knowledge to students.

In some cases, students cheat because they are not confident of their ability or skills in academics. Whenever this feeling is present, students resort to cheating as a way of avoiding ridicule in case of failure. In essence, some of these students are very bright but the fear of failure and the lack of adequate preparations compel them to cheat.

The BECE has, over the years, been marred by instances of examination malpractice. In some unfortunate cases, entire schools have had their papers cancelled due to infractions ranging from smuggling of materials into examination halls to the sharing of questions via mobile phones. These actions do not only bring shame to the institutions involved but rob diligent students of the fair recognition they deserve.

It is, therefore, imperative that parents, teachers and school heads play their part by explicitly warning candidates about the dire consequences of cheating. Students must be made to understand that dishonesty in any form will not only ruin their results but could also taint their future academic and professional lives.

The Chronicle advises all candidates to have confidence in themselves and the assurance that what they have learnt over the period would come in handy. We commend WAEC for reinforcing the revised rules and setting the stage for a fair, peaceful and orderly examination environment.

The inclusion of candidates with special educational needs is also a progressive step toward educational inclusivity.

The Chronicle extends our best wishes to all candidates.

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