Tunbosun Ogundare
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Friday, released the result of the first series of its 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) organised for private candidates.
The examination was held between January and February, with a total of 8,348 candidates participated across 262 exam centres nationwide.
The Head of the National Office of WAEC, Nigeria, Mr Patrick Areghan, announced the release of the result in a statement made available by the head of public affairs department of the organisation, Mrs Moyosola Adesina.
According to him, only 2,003 candidates (representing 23.99%) out of the total 8,348 who sat the exam obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“And out of this number, only 971 (representing 48.48%) were male candidates while 1,032( representing 51.52%) were females,” he noted.
Areghan said the percentage of candidates who had this similar result in the same diet in 2021 and 2022 were 30.11% and 26.32%, respectively, a development that shows a marginal decrease of 2.33% in performance over the three years.
Areghan, however, pointed out that this general result cannot be compared with that of the MayJune school-based diet for final year students because candidates in the latter exam are being compelled to sit for either eight or nine subjects while in this particular exam in focus, candidates are free to sit even for one subject depending on the number of subjects they have a deficiency and they need to pass.
“That is why it is not correct or fair to say that the performance in this examination has dwindled when compared with the school-based exam,” he declared.
Giving further statistics of the results, Areghan said 413 (representing 4.95%) of the total number of candidates who sat the examination still have their results being withheld over allegations of examination malpractice.
He said their cases are being investigated, and the outcome would be communicated to them as regards if their results would be released or cancelled.
He said 27 candidates with special needs including visually and hearing impaired and Albinos were also participated in the exam.
He commended all the members of staff of WAEC, exam officials, as well as the ad-hoc staff who participated in the exercise, saying their contributions were worthwhile.
