Acting head of Text Administration Division, Ms Jemima Vanderpuije has announced at a media seminar.

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She said, 289,207 and 274,255 candidates sat for the examination adding that with the introduction of Free Senior High School, the number of WASSCE candidates would increase in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Head of WAEC, Rev. Samuel Ollennu has said the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) will start in April.

Rev. Samuel Ollennu said the move will guarantee that the nine terms allocated to teaching and learning in second cycle schools are fully exhausted by students before the examination.

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He said "We are here to sanitize you about the forthcoming examination, which this time around is not starting February but on April 3. Formerly, we were going to start in February but the government appealed to us not to."

He added that government has absorbed 100 per cent payment of examination fees of candidates writing this year's BECE.