Final-year senior high school (SHS) students from Ghana officially rejoin their West African counterparts tomorrow to write the May-June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC), beginning with Oral English.

In all, 509,862 students will sit for this year’s WASSCE-SC across the country, statistics made available by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to the Daily Graphic indicated.

They comprise 225,274 males and 284,588 females.

The 2026 version began with the practical sessions and project work for Visual Arts and Home Economics, among others.

However, all candidates will participate in tomorrow’s Oral English, which Ghanaian candidates have written exclusively in the past five years.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced member countries of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to shift the WASSCE-SC from May-June to July 20 to September 5, 2020, while in 2021, the examination was administered from August 16 to October 8.

After 2021, all member countries of WAEC, including Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia, made efforts to streamline their academic calendars to return to the May-June calendar.

Regional breakdown

Per the regional breakdown, Ashanti Region leads the pack with a total of 127,702 candidates, comprising 57,885 males and 69,817 females.

The Eastern Region follows with 70,099 candidates, made up of 29,810 males and 40,289 females, with the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions featuring 67,739 candidates (29,658 males and 38,081 females).

Candidates from the Central Region are 61,303, while 22,418 males and 25,681 females, totalling 48,099, will sit in the Greater Accra Region.

Volta Region candidates are 41,622 (19,261 males and 22,361 females), and that of Oti Region and Western North are 35,620 candidates (14,480 males and 21,140 females).

The Northern Region (North East, Savannah and Northern Region) will be represented by 33,155 candidates, Upper East Region has 15,192 candidates (6,093 males and 9,099 females) and the Upper West Region features 9,249 candidates (3,985 males and 5,266 females).