619,985 Candidates from 20,390 schools sit exam including foreign students – 2026 BECE

2026 BECE takes off: 619,985 Candidates from 20,390 schools sit exam – 156 others from Togo, Benin participate.

A total of 619,985 final-year junior high school (JHS) candidates will, from today, sit for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates (SC) across the country.

Up to 156 other candidates from Togo and Benin will also take the examination, which will end on Monday, May 11, 2026.

This brings the total number of candidates for the 2026 examination to 620,141, according to statistics made available by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to the Daily Graphic.

The candidates are from 20,390 public and private schools. The examination will be held at 2,302 centres across the country.

Five schools from Togo and Benin participating in the examination will take the examination at one centre. 

WAEC said the Togo and Benin schools writing the BECE in Ghana “run our curriculum, and so they are eligible to write”.

Statistics

The statistics show that out of the 619,985 candidates in Ghana, 304,273 are male, while 315,712 are female.

There will be 2,303 supervisors with 2,070 assistant supervisors and 21,791 invigilators.

The 619,985 candidates from Ghana represents an increase of 16,657 over last year’s candidature of 603,328.

Regional breakdown

Per the regional breakdown, the Ashanti Region will again present the highest number of candidates of 124,095 (61,119 males and 62,976 females) from 3,277 schools who will sit the examination at 444 centres.

The Greater Accra Region, which has 114,243 candidates (54,713 males and 59,530 females) from 3,987 schools, will take the examination at 443 centres.  

The Central Region, which has 69,496 candidates made up of 34,463 males and 35,033 females from 2,528 schools, will take the examination at 247 centres.

The Eastern Region’s 56,700 candidates, comprising 28,287 males and 28,413 females from 2,169 schools, will take the examination at 211 centres.

In the Western Region, 45,457 candidates — 22,159 males and 23,298 females — from 1,420 schools will take the examination at 154 centres.

Others

Again, 37,308 candidates in the Northern Region are due to sit the 2026 BECE-SC. The candidates — 19,657 male and 17,651 female from 784 schools — will take the examination at 132 centres.

Up to 30,055 candidates (14,756 males and 15,299 females) from the Volta Region from 1,200 schools will take the examination at 118 centres.

Also 24,984 candidates (12,244 males and 12,740 females) in the Bono Region will take the examination at 88 centres (813 schools).

In the Upper East Region, 22,449 final-year students (9,854 males and 12,595 females) from 749 schools are taking the 2026 BECE-SC at 94 centres.

The Bono East Region will also have 20,897 candidates (10,149 males and 10,748 females) from 725 schools sitting the examination at 80 centres.

More

The Western North Region will have 17,372 candidates (8,685 males and 8,687 females) taking the examination at 83 centres, while the Upper West Region will have 14,982 (6,706 males and 8,222 females) sitting the examination at 51 centres, with the Ahafo Region having 12,578 candidates (6,439 males and 6,139 females) at 50 centres.

The North East Region will have 10,033 candidates (5,100 males and 4,933 females) from 251 schools writing at 34 centres, while the Oti Region’s 12,401 candidates (6,495 males and 5,907 females) from 495 schools will be writing at 47 centres.

The Savannah Region is presenting 6,989 candidates — 3,448 males and 3,541 females from 242 schools — taking the examination at 26 centres.

WAEC’s readiness

Meanwhile, WAEC says it is ready to conduct the examination.

The Head of the Public Affairs of WAEC, John Kapi, however, cautioned against all forms of malpractices, stressing that they would come with serious repercussions. 

Briefing sessions have been held with the supervisors to tell them what we expect from them, their conduct and so on.

We have started with the process,” he said, adding that stationery had been distributed, with others due to be sent,” he said.

All the necessary arrangements, he added, had also been put in place.