WASSCE: Over 1m candidates obtain credits and above in 5 subjects

.180,205 candidates’ results withheld over exam misconduct

Esther Taiwo

This will be a cheery news for parents, guardians and students as out of 1,590,173 candidates that sat for the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), a total of 1,020,519 candidates representing 64.18% obtained credits and above in minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.

Announcing the results at a press briefing to announce the release of WASSCE results for school candidates on Friday at the WAEC National Office, Yaba, Head of the Nigeria national office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr. Olu Adenipekun, said of this number, 507,862 representing 49.77% were male candidates, and 512,655 representing 50.23% were female candidates.

He, however, said the percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates in 2018 was 50%.

“The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates 2019 took place in the five member countries of WAEC from Monday, April 9, 2019 to Friday, June 7, 2019”

“The Coordination of Examiners and Marking of Candidates’ Scripts took place at 83 Marking Venues in Nigeria while one Subject was electronically-marked in three selected Computer Centres. A total of 80,125 Examiners participated in the coordination and marking exercise”, he said.

He said a total of 1,596,161 candidates registered for the examination from 18,639 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria.

“Of the number that registered for the examination, 1,590,173 candidates sat the examination. The examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea where the Nigeria curriculum for the Senior Secondary School were in use”, he said.

The head of WAEC national office noted further that a total of 1,918 candidates with varying degrees of special needs were registered for the examination saying out of this number 299 were visually challenged, 842 had impaired hearing; 158 had low vision; 75 were spastic cum mentally challenged, and 85 were physically challenged.

All these candidates with special needs, according to him, were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination adding that their results have also been processed and released along with other candidates.

“Of the total number of 1,590,173 candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 822,098 were male while 768,075 were female, representing 51.70% and 48.30% respectively.

“Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 1,468,071 candidates, representing 92.32% have their results fully processed and released while 122,102 candidates representing 7.68% have a few of their subjects still being processed”.

He said efforts are however being made to speedily complete the processing and all the affected candidates will get their results fully processed and released subsequently.

The analysis of the statistics of the performance of candidates in the examination shows that out of the 1,590,173 candidates that sat the examination: 1,309,570 candidates representing 82.35% obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects that is, with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics; 180,205 candidates, representing 11.33% of the total number of candidates that sat the examination are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice. “The cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council in due course. The Committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools,” he stated.

“The details of the results are already available online, and candidates who sat the examination and who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council are free to check the details of their performance on the Council’s results website: www.waecdirect.org.

“The Result Checker PIN and Serial Number needed by candidates to check their results online are contained on the candidate’s Smart Identity Card used during the conduct of the examination. Certificates of candidates whose results have been fully processed and released will be ready within the next 90 days from today (Friday)”, the HNO added.

Olanipekun on behalf of the Management and entire Staff of the Council in Nigeria expressed gratitude to all the Supervisors, Invigilators, Custodians, Examiners and other Ad-hoc personnel for their support towards the successful conduct of the examination and marking of scripts.

“Our sincere appreciations also go to the officials of the Federal and State Ministries of Education, ANCOPPS and to the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies for their assistance and cooperation during the conduct of the examination. We are equally grateful to schools that availed the Council the use of their facilities for various activities of the Council despite other commitments,” he said.