The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the provisional results of candidates who sat for the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates, with the entire results of 105 candidates cancelled over examination malpractice.

The Council also cancelled the subject results of 496 candidates after completing investigations into cases of examination irregularities detected during the conduct of the examination and the marking of scripts.

In addition, the subject results of 119 candidates and the entire results of 48 candidates have been withheld, while the subject results of 2,722 candidates from 229 schools remain under further scrutiny.

The announcement was made in a press release issued by WAEC on Tuesday, July 29, and signed by the Head of Public Affairs, John K. Kapi.

“The West African Examinations Council wishes to inform its numerous publics that it has released provisional results of candidates who sat for the BECE for School Candidates, 2026,” it read in part.

According to WAEC, a total of 620,243 candidates, comprising 304,415 males and 315,828 females from 20,789 schools, registered for the examination, which was conducted at 2,237 centres nationwide.

The figure included 136 candidates with visual impairment, 282 with hearing assessment needs and 510 candidates with other test accommodation needs, while 3,601 registered candidates were absent.

The Council said the sanctions followed the approval of the 37th Meeting of the Final Awards and Examiners’ Appointment Committee for the BECE, held on July 21, after investigations into reported examination malpractice.

WAEC said the affected results would either be released or cancelled based on the outcome of the investigations by August 31, 2026.

Candidates whose results have been cancelled or withheld have been advised to visit WAEC’s irregularities portal to check the reasons for the decision and, where applicable, the next steps in the investigation process.