The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it will at the end of this month begin destroying certificates of private candidates that have not been collected for over 10 years.
The move, it said, was to decongest its offices, which have been flooded with candidates’ certificates, some dating as far back as 1965.
“We want to decongest the storage spaces that we have. We realise that they have taken up so much space, meanwhile every year we keep on printing certificates,” the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, told the Daily Graphic.
According to her, the certificates comprised mostly those who wrote the November-December (Nov-Dec) and other private examinations including the Advanced Business and General Business Certificate Examinations.
Asked if owners of the certificates needed to pay for their collection, she said no, since the cost of the examination was factored into the registration fee, adding, “You don’t pay anything, you just walk into our offices across the region where you wrote the examination and pick up your certificate”.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said the certificates could be picked up from the region in which the examination was written.
She, however, could not say how many certificates had occupied spaces in its offices across the country, explaining that the number was large.
Last year alone, she said, more than 177,000 candidates wrote the Nov-Dec, so considering that number the figure was large.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe advised owners of the certificates to visit the council’s offices to collect them, and pointed out that although there could be a grace period she was not sure when it would be given and how long it would last.
“But it is better to come for it now before it is too late,” she advised, saying that after the destruction of the certificates, people wanting attestation of their results would have to pay for it.
The council, in early December last year, asked members of the public to collect their certificates to decongest its offices.
