The West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has elected Prof. Thomas Brima Rick Yormah as the 21st Chairman of Council during the 72nd Annual Council Meeting.

Head of Public Affairs at WAEC headquarters in Accra, Ghana,Demianus Ojijeogu, announced the election in a statement weekend.

Prof. Yormah, who succeeded Prof. Ato Essuman from the Republic of Ghana, was elected at a week-long WAEC Council meeting held in the Republic of Sierra Leone.

In his keynote address, Sierra Leonian President, Julius Maada Bio, who was represented by his vice, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, declared the gathering opened and congratulated WAEC on its 72nd anniversary.

He noted that the council had played a prominent role in the educational development of the sub-region over the past seventy-two years and had, indeed, served as a catalyst for the educational reforms that had evolved in the member countries.

The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Sierra Leone, Conrad Sackey, noted that since its inception in 1952, the council has played its role creditably by assisting in the development of sound education and ensuring the maintenance of educational standards.

This, he said, had given the people of the sub-region a vision of the great potentials that lie beyond examinations.

He congratulated WAEC for remainng relevant for over seven decades and still counting and urged all stakeholders to rally the council and stamp out examination malpractice in public examinations in the member countries.

On the same occasion, the WAEC International Excellence Award was conferred on three Ghanaian candidates for their outstanding performance in the WASSCE for school candidates, 2023.