Confusion, and frustration have gripped 12th-grade students, who wrote this year’s national examinations.
The situation followed the ultimate failure of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC-Liberia) to release the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results within the timelines earlier announced by its leadership.
The latest controversy intensified on Tuesday, August 18, after WAEC-Liberia appeared to announce that the 2026 WASSCE results would be released at the Ministry of Information regular press brief, but the office failed to deliver on the promised.
The announcement, reportedly posted on August 15, was later deleted without a public explanation, leaving students, parents, and schools uncertain about when the long-awaited results will actually be available.
The development has raised questions about WAEC-Liberia’s communication, and planning, “because the institution’s National Head, Dale Gbegbele Gbotoe, had previously provided a specific timeline for the results.”
At a Ministry of Information press briefing on August 5, Gbotoe told the public that the 2026 WASSCE results would be released “on or before August 14, 2026.”
That deadline passed without the results being released, creating growing anxiety among candidates whose university admissions, and other educational opportunities may depend on their examination results.
Rather than receiving a clear explanation for the delay, students have instead been confronted with conflicting announcements, and the subsequent removal of WAEC-Liberia’s latest public notice.
Gbotoe had also warned the public against relying on unofficial examination results circulating on social media.
He reportedly dismissed the figures being circulated at the time, saying it was impossible for the figures to be accurate.
However, the failure to provide an updated, and definitive release date has now created another information gap for the very students WAEC is expected to serve.
The 2026 WASSCE examinations were administered from April 27 through June 19, with 1,126 senior secondary schools presenting candidates, including two schools in neighboring Guinea.
The scale of the examination makes timely, and transparent communication particularly important, given the large number of students awaiting their academic outcomes.
By August 18, government had reportedly paid examination fees for 7,391 candidates, yet students, and parents were still waiting for clarity on when the results would be published.
The passing of the previously announced deadline without a detailed explanation has only heightened public concern.
Gbotoe’s absence from the scheduled Ministry of Information briefing on Tuesday further fueled criticism.
With expectations that WAEC-Liberia would be represented during the announcement of the results, his absence, combined with the deletion of the earlier announcement, has prompted questions about whether the examination body was adequately prepared to meet its own publicly announced timeline, or not?
This is not the first time WAEC-Liberia has faced scrutiny over examination results. In previous years, the institution withheld the results of more than 39,000 students over alleged examination fraud, and irregularities.
Gbotoe had said at the time that the affected results would only be released following a review by the Liberia Examination Committee.
