Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister for Education, has announced that eight teachers and invigilators have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) malpractice.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, the teacher’s conviction and sentencing intensified efforts by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to curb malpractice.
Speaking during the 2026 BECE monitoring tour on Monday, May 4, 2026, the minister stated, “Last year, about eight teachers were involved in facilitating cheating, and they have been dealt with in accordance with the law. About eight of them have been convicted and sentenced, and they’ll be taken off the payroll of the Ghana Education Service”.
“We are particularly concerned about the growing phenomenon of exam malpractice. Last year, it affected about 178 candidates, and several papers were withheld. In some instances, the papers were cancelled,” he stated.
He added, “To you, the candidates, honesty and integrity define citizenship. Honesty and integrity define patriotism, and they must be the hallmark of your character moulding to be able to serve Ghana better tomorrow”.
“So don’t engage in any exam malpractice,” he added.
Haruna Iddrisu further cautioned invigilators, saying, “To our invigilators, we expect nothing short of the highest standard of integrity”.
“So we mean business, and we want this exercise to be conducted with the highest sense of integrity, as that defines your future and the kind of responsible citizens you will become tomorrow,” he said.
In recent times, John Kapi, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Head of Public Affairs, has revealed that seven Teachers have been engaged in alleged examination malpractice during the ongoing 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
According to John Kapi, the arrests were made across three regions: the Central, Bono and Ashanti Regions.
He disclosed that three of the teachers were arrested in the Central Region, two in the Bono Region, and two in the Ashanti Region.
The Head of Public Affairs at WAEC disclosed that five of the teachers smuggled mobile phones into the examination halls, adding that investigations revealed that some solved questions on external platforms.
He further detailed that others fed questions into AI tools such as ChatGPT, while some took snapshots of examination questions.
Mr Kapi disclosed that some of the suspects relied on ChatGPT to generate answers, which were then dictated to candidates during the examinations.
He further highlighted that the two remaining suspects had no phones but were implicated in the malpractice scheme, one caught distributing prepared answers to candidates and the other duplicating answer sheets intended for candidates.
According to him, the suspect has been handed over to various police stations for investigation.
Meanwhile, the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination began yesterday, Monday, May 4, with over 620,000 candidates across Ghana sitting for the exams.
The exams conducted by the West African Examinations Council will run until May 11, with 620,141 candidates from 20,395 schools set to participate.
The exam officials have disclosed that they have tightened measures to curb malpractice, taking a firm stance against examination malpractice.
Of the 620,000 candidates, 304,349 are boys, and 315,792 are girls, with the 2026 BECE candidate increasing by 16,813 candidates, or 2.7%, compared to the 2025 BECE 603,328 candidates.
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8 teachers, invigilators convicted over 2025 BECE malpractice — Education Minister#JoyNews #Viral #Explorepage #Ghana #JoyFM #GhanaNews #Ghana #NewsUpdate #Africa #GhPolitics #News #AfricaNews #CurrentAffairs #Vlog pic.twitter.com/VjoowOBNVN
— Joy 99.7 FM (@Joy997FM) May 4, 2026