The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said it has not cancelled the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates in 2020 as claimed by some social media posts.

The council is also not refunding N22,500 to candidates for cancelling the examination.

WAEC’s Head of National Office (HNO) Mr. Patrick Areghan said in a statement that the council had only postponed the examination because of the Coronavirus pandemic and will reschedule once the public health scare goes away.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a fake publication circulating in the social media that the West African Examinations Council had cancelled the conduct of WASSCE for school candidates in 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and was, therefore, set to refund N22,500.00 to candidates who had enrolled for the examination.

“WAEC, as an examining body in the sub-region, has not announced the cancellation of the examination; it only announced a postponement until normalcy is restored.”

The HNO also said contrary to the report, the council charges N13,950 for the examination, not N22,500.

“The examination fee is N13,950.00 only, not N22,500.00. It is, therefore, not reasonable to refund candidates an amount higher than what they had paid to register for the examination.

“We wish to use this opportunity to reassure all registered candidates, schools and other stakeholders that once the situation returns to normal, the council will come up with a new international timetable for the conduct of the examination in the West African sub-region, after due consultations with relevant stakeholders. Candidates are, therefore, advised to disregard the publication and concentrate on studying hard for the examination,” he said.

When the politics of Covid-19 is over, WAEC will continue.