The management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Monday released the results of school candidates, who sat for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), urging candidates to check their results in its portal.
The Head of WAEC’s Head of National Office in Nigeria, Patrick Areghan, who led the team at a press briefing, recalled that the examination earlier scheduled to commence on 6th
April, 2020 had to be postponed to 17th August, 2020, as a result of the outbreak of the novel COVID-19 pandemic.
Said he, “..everybody was scared stiff. Nobody wanted to take any action that could further
put the life of the Nigerian Child in greater peril. However, after much discussions
with relevant authorities, the examination finally commenced on 17th August, 2020
and ended on 12th September, 2020, spanning a period of four weeks.
This year’s examination, he added, was also successfully conducted simultaneously throughout the five member countries and in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno, where school girls were abducted six years ago.
Giving a breakdown of the results, Mr. Areghan stated that “A total of One Million Five Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty (1,549,740) candidates registered for the examination from Nineteen Thousand One Hundred and Twenty-Nine (19,129) recognised secondary schools in Nigeria.
“Of the number that registered for the examination, One Million Five Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Forty-Five (1,538,445) 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 Senior Secondary School is being used.
“Remarkably, the examination was also conducted in Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, the first time since the abduction of over 200 school girls in the area by insurgents, six years ago.
“I also wish to report that a total of Four Thousand Two Hundred and Eighty (4,280) candidates with varying degrees of Special Needs were registered for the examination.
“Out of this number, Two Hundred and Thirty (230) were visually challenged, Seven Hundred and Forty-Five (745) had impaired hearing; Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Two (2,852) had low vision; Thirty-Eight (38) were spastic cum mentally challenged, and Fifty-Eight (58) were physically challenged.
“All these candidates with special needs were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination. The results of these candidates have been processed and released along with those of other candidates.
“Of the total number of One Million Five Hundred and Thirty Eighty Thousand Four Hundred and Forty-Five (1,538,445) candidates that sat the examination, Seven Hundred and Eighty Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty (780,660) were males while Seven Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Five (757,785) were females, representing 50.74% and 49.26%, respectively.
“Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination, One Million Four Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty-Seven (1,456,727) candidates, representing 94.69% have their results fully processed and released while Eighty-One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighteen (81,718) candidates, representing 5.31% have a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors on the part of the candidates. Efforts are, however, being made to speedily complete the processing to enable all the affected candidates 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 One Million Five Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand Four Hundred and Forty-Five (1,538,445) candidates that sat the examination:
“One Million Three Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand Three Hundred and Forty-Eight (1,338,348) candidates, representing 86.99%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics;
“One Million Three Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Eight (1,003,668) candidates, representing 65.24%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“Of this number, Four Hundred and Ninety-Seven Thousand One Hundred and Thirty-Nine (497,139) i. e. 49.53% were male candidates, while Five Hundred and Six Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty-Nine (506,529) i.e. 50.47% were female candidates.
“The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2019, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 64.18%. Thus, there is a marginal 1.06% improvement in performance in this regard.
“The results of Two Hundred and Fifteen Thousand One Hundred and Forty-Nine (215,149) candidates, representing 13.98% 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 for determination in due course. The Committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools.
“Gentlemen of the media, as I address you at this briefing, the results are being uploaded on the results website. Candidates who sat the examination and who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council can access their performance on the Council’s results website: www.waecdirect.org.
“The Result Checker PIN and Serial Number required 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, counting from today.”