The head of Public Relations for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi has confirmed that 43 teachers were arrested across several regions for their alleged involvement in examination malpractice during the just ended 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Speaking on Starr FM’s Morning Show, Morning Star on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Kapi revealed that the arrests follow a series of whistleblower reports and targeted stings aimed at preserving the integrity of this year’s national exams.
The Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of cases with 17 teachers apprehended, followed by the Western Region with nine. Six teachers were arrested in the Greater Accra Region with 4 each arrested in Eastern and Central regions. The Bono and Bono East Regions recorded 2 and 1 arrest respectively.
The WAEC PRO attributed the arrest to the activities of whistle blowers who called in to their offices and directed officials to “teams” hiding in computer labs, nearby bushes, or parked buses. These individuals would receive snapshots of exam questions via mobile phones, solve them using AI, and transmit the answers back to students inside the exam halls.
“They [whistle blowers] would send you information, let’s say, for example, District A has a team hiding in the computer lab, or they are hiding in some bush or in a bus somewhere, and, there’s somebody who takes a snapshot of the questions and sends it to them. They answer and then send the response back to the candidates. And so, these were some of the pieces of information that we received…,” he revealed.
He further attributed the crackdown to a year-long stakeholder engagement campaign involving traditional authorities, security agencies, and parents.
Kapi also revealed that the examination regulatory body also alerted the Police to arrest teachers who took monies from their candidates just to offer them assistance.
He continued that investigations revealed that some teachers and supervisors were using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tools like ChatGPT to generate answers for candidates.
WAEC further described this trend as “disturbing” and increasingly sophisticated methods used to bypass examination security.
“There were also areas where we were told that the candidates had been charged various sums of money to solicit assistance from the invigilators and the supervisors. And so, these were some of the pieces of information that we received, and in most of the places we went—in fact, every single one that information that we got and we followed up, we actually found that indeed, that was true…,” he said.
Kapi lamented that this trend is “worrying because we expect teachers to uphold the nobility of the profession. Instead, we found instances where candidates were charged sums of money to solicit assistance.”
He further highlighted a significant breakdown in protocol, noting that in some centers, nearly every candidate was found with a mobile phone—an indication of “connivance” with local authorities, as all students are required to be searched before entry.
This trend, he continued, if not checked will have adverse effects on development of education in Ghana.
“It would have an effect on the young ones that we are bringing up, and so the future of our country could be bleak if we did not do anything to stop this,” he warned.
He revealed that investigations are ongoing, and authorities suggest the number of arrests may rise as more reports from the regions continue to come in.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
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