Ahead of the release of the 2025 BECE results, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has started its investigations into suspected and alleged mass cheating by students. Many of the students invited are students from the same school or the same examination centre.
In a release by WAEC ahead of the exercise, the council published the names of 2158 students and demanded they present themselves for questioning in the regional offices in the regions they sat the exam in.
Per the data released by WAEC, the suspected mass cheating seems to have been concentrated in some regions. Cape Coast leads the league table of cheating candidates with 2,147
Data Overview and Structure
The dataset is contained in the notice from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) dated August 8, 2025. It lists 2,158 candidates (from two combined lists) whose results are withheld pending an investigation into “mass collusion”.
Each entry contains the following key data points:
- Regional Office
- Candidate Name
- Index Number
- Reporting Venue
- Reporting Date
2025 BECE Mass Cheating Investigation Scheduled Dates
The investigations started today.
- Monday, August 11, 2025: This is the busiest day, primarily for the majority of the Cape Coast and Kumasi candidates. The timing is immediate, following the press release on Friday, August 8th, giving candidates minimal time to coordinate stories, which may be a deliberate investigative strategy.
- Tuesday, August 12, 2025: This day seems to handle the remaining, smaller clusters of candidates from various regions, including Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani, and several more centres in Cape Coast.
- Wednesday, August 13, 2025: This day is reserved for specific centres in the Kumasi region.
The venue assignment further clarifies the logistics:
- Regional Offices: Handle smaller, localised cases.
- WAEC Height, Accra: Manages the largest and most severe clusters, primarily from Cape Coast.
- Glorious Bible Church, Dormaa Ahenkro: This unusual venue for the Sunyani cases suggests a large number of candidates from that specific locality (Dormaa Ahenkro), making it more practical to hold the investigation there rather than the regional capital. The data shows over 400 candidates from centres in this area.
- Organised Malpractice: The term “mass collusion” combined with the centre-specific data implies this was not simple cheating. It points towards organised efforts, potentially involving invigilators, teachers, or external parties providing answers to large groups of students within these specific centres.
- Investigative Focus: WAEC’s investigation will likely focus on the officials (supervisors and invigilators) who were assigned to these hotspot centres. The similarity in student answers, which is how mass collusion is typically detected algorithmically, is the primary evidence WAEC will present.
- Reputational Impact: The schools associated with these centre codes (e.g.,
319349
319103
in Cape Coast) face a significant reputational crisis. This event will likely trigger wider investigations by the Ghana Education Service (GES) into the administration and ethics of these specific schools.
READ:
All students who are found guilty of the suspected mass cheating may have their specific subject results cancelled or all their results cancelled.
Take our free BECE online quiz now