Ghana Education Service  has defended the sanctions imposed by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on candidates involved in examination malpractice during the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), insisting the measures are necessary to protect the integrity of Ghana's education system even if they delay some students' progression to Senior High School.

Speaking to Class News after the release of the 2026 BECE results, GES Public Relations Officer, Daniel Fenyi said due process must take precedence over convenience, stressing that candidates whose results have been withheld must undergo investigations before progressing to the next stage of their education.

"We are not producing only intellectuals and academics. We are producing people with strong moral character. If there is room to suspect misconduct, then we need to pause and investigate," he said.

WAEC sanctioned more than 3,400 candidates for various forms of examination malpractice. 

The Council cancelled the subject results of 496 candidates and the entire results of 105 others. 

It also withheld the subject results of 2,722 candidates from 229 schools while the subject results of 119 candidates and the entire results of 48 candidates remain under investigation.

Fenyi acknowledged that the investigations could delay some students' admission to Senior High School but maintained that safeguarding the credibility of public examinations is paramount.

On the overall performance, he noted that although isolated cases of malpractice were recorded, the conduct of the examination was generally satisfactory considering that more than 600,000 candidates sat the exams.

Daniel Fenyi also defended government's new policy requiring candidates to select their Senior High Schools only after receiving their BECE results, describing the previous system as one based on guesswork.

"The result becomes the data upon which students will select their schools and programmes. Before now, students selected schools without knowing how they had performed. That was like lotto, and we cannot reduce progression to Senior High School to bets and lotto," he said.

He added that the new approach will enable students and parents to make informed decisions based on actual performance, increasing their chances of securing placement in schools and programmes that match their grades.