By Emmanuel Fletcher 
The Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) has issued a bold call to break the 74-year monopoly held by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over public basic education assessments.
Executive Director Obenfo Nana Kwasi Gyetuah argues that creating alternative examining bodies will inject much-needed transparency, boost accountability, and eradicate recurring issues like examination paper leakages.
GNACOPS officially petitioned the Ministry of Education following heated disputes over the provisional 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results.
Gyetuah emphasized that relying on a single examination body for over seven decades has outlived its usefulness and breeds systemic inefficiencies.
Drawing comparisons with regional peers, Gyetuah pointed out that Nigeria successfully introduced alternative assessment bodies like NECO alongside WAEC to drive up standards.
He highlighted Ghana’s own media landscape as proof that ending monopolies elevates quality, noting that public discourse would be constrained if the state broadcaster remained the sole media platform.
The association also taking aim at WAEC’s grading methodology, demanding an immediate end to the Stanine grading system.
GNACOPS is pushing for a transparent, criterion-referenced grading model where raw scores directly dictate candidate grades without predefined percentage quotas.
As Ghana decentralizes other educational institutions, private school proprietors contend that subjecting public examination bodies to healthy market competition is the only way to safeguard the academic futures of Ghanaian children.
Also Read: WAEC Explains Why Hundreds of 2026 BECE Results Were Cancelled