Final-year Senior High School students across Ghana have officially begun the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, with candidates sitting for Oral English papers today.

According to the West African Examinations Council, a total of 509,862 candidates are expected to participate in this year’s examination nationwide.

The figure includes 225,274 male candidates and 284,588 female candidates.

The examination process had earlier started with practical and project-based assessments in subjects including Visual Arts and Home Economics.

This year’s WASSCE is also being conducted simultaneously across member countries of the West African Examinations Council, marking a return to the traditional May-to-June examination calendar after years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic forced changes to the examination timetable in previous years, with the 2020 exams moved to July through September, while the 2021 examinations were conducted between August and October.

Following the disruptions, countries including Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia worked together to restore the original regional academic calendar.

Regionally, the Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of candidates, with more than 127-thousand students expected to write the examination.

The Eastern Region follows with over 70-thousand candidates, while the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions together account for more than 67-thousand candidates.

The Central Region registered over 61-thousand candidates, while the Greater Accra Region recorded more than 48-thousand candidates for this year’s examination.

Meanwhile, education authorities have urged candidates to remain calm, avoid examination malpractice and focus on giving their best throughout the examination period.