The results of the first series of the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) for this year have been released. The results were released on Tuesday in Lagos by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) which conducted the exam between February and March for private candidates spread across 252 centres nationwide.
A total of 7,690 candidates sat for the examination, out of which only 2,195 (representing 30.11 per cent) obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects including English language and General mathematics.
32.23 per cent, 26.08 per cent and 17. 50 per cent of the total candidates who sat 2020, 2019 and the 2018 maiden editions of the diet respectively obtained similar results, an indication of a marginal decrease of 2.12 per cent in performance when compared with last year outing.
The Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Mr Patrick Areghan, announced the release of the results at a press conference at the national headquarters of the examination body in Yaba with top management staff in attendance.
He said out of the total candidates, who sat the exam, 7, 174 of them (representing 98.42 per cent) had their results fully processed and released, while only 115 candidates (representing 1.58 per cent) still had a few of their subjects being processed due to errors traceable to them in the course of registration or writing the examination.
He also said cases of exam malpractice were recorded giving the total figure of candidates involved in the act to be 599 (representing 8. 22 per cent), adding that their cases were under investigation after which they would know their fate as regards their results, either to be released or cancelled.
He said a total of 23 candidates with special needs including visually and hearing impaired, albinos and mentally challenged also participated in the exam and that their results have been fully released alongside others.
Areghan also disclosed that more female candidates giving their total number at 1, 121 (representing 51.07 per cent) were again just like last year edition performed better in the exam than their male counterparts which he gave their number to be 1,074(representing 48.93 per cent) of the total 2, 195 candidates with minimum five mandatory subjects.
Areghan said the performance of candidates this year compared with last year edition which shows a decline, is not encouraging, attributing the development to many factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, urging all education stakeholders to brace up for improved performance in future.
He, however, said candidates could now start checking their results on the council’s website, given as www.waecdirect.org.
He added that the collection of certificates by private candidates in the council’s exams would be on request electronically through what he called Electronically Certificate Management platform( e-certman) with procedure details already made public.
He also dispelled the rumor that this year’s school-based WASSCE would be held in May/June, saying it would be in August but with no official timetable yet.
Source : https://tribuneonlineng.com/