The 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) took off on Mondays, with roughly 446, 321 candidates across the country sitting for the examinations.

A total of 375,763 candidates sat for the examination last year. This year's lot includes 224,884 females and 221,437 males, with 763 supervisors and centres.

A statement issued by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) indicated that 965 schools were participating in the exams, out of which 651 were public schools and 314 private schools.

According to the statement, the Ashanti Region had the highest number of candidates with 108,485 students, followed by the Eastern Region with 65,623 candidates participating in the examinations.

The Upper West Region had the lowest representation with 9,338 candidates.

The examination, which commenced with Project Work for Visual Arts candidates, is expected to come to an end on Friday, October 8, 2021.

Candidates will write the English language (oral) paper on Wednesday, September 2, 2021, while the English language Essay and objective papers would be written on Monday, September 13, 2021.

The WAEC, last year conducted the WASSCE concurrently in Anglophone West Africa-Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia- announced on March 20, 2020, but suspended the annual examination indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Upon discussions with Ghana following the country's decision to ease COVID-19 restrictions, final year students were allowed to return to school and it was agreed that the exams will be held independently for Ghana.

However Ghana is re-joining its counterparts to write the examinations this year.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, wished the 2021 candidates success in their examinations, saying "I wish to see you excel after your hard work over the past three years".

"Your teachers have contributed their quota by imparting a great volume of knowledge in you, and you have also burnt the midnight oil for this day.

"Now is your time to go and write for victory! Go ahead and excel, I wish you all the best," he said.