The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has imposed sanctions on some candidates who participated in the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) following investigations into cases of examination malpractice.

WAEC announced the release of the 2026 BECE results on Thursday, July 30, revealing that disciplinary measures had been applied to candidates found to have engaged in irregularities during the examination process.

A total of 620,243 candidates, made up of 304,415 males and 315,828 females from 20,789 schools, took part in this year’s school-level examination.

The candidates included 136 persons with visual impairment, 282 with hearing assessment needs, and 510 others requiring different forms of examination support.

The examination was conducted at 2,237 centres nationwide, with 3,601 candidates recorded as absent.

According to WAEC, investigations were conducted into several suspected cases of malpractice identified during the writing of the examination and the marking of scripts. Following the review of the cases, the 37th Meeting of the Final Awards and Examiners’ Appointment Committee for BECE 2026, held on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, approved a number of sanctions.

The Council stated that:

• Subject results of 496 candidates have been cancelled.
• Entire results of 105 candidates have been cancelled.
• Subject results of 119 candidates have been withheld.
• Entire results of 48 candidates have been withheld.

Additionally, WAEC said the subject results of 2,722 candidates from 229 schools have been withheld pending further investigations.

The Council explained that the affected results could either be cancelled or released depending on the findings of the ongoing investigations, which are expected to be completed by August 31, 2026.