BY FOLASHADE SHIYANBOLA
WEST African Examination Council, WAEC, Nigeria, has announced the release of results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE for Private Candidate, 2020, Second Series.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Head of the Nigeria National Office, Patrick Areghan, said a total of 66,375 candidates, representing a 31.63 per cent decline when compared with the 2019 figure, entered for the examination.
He, however, noted that 61, 509 candidates actually sat for the examination at 540 centres spread across the country.
According to him, of the total number of 61,509 candidates that sat for the examination, 30,507 were males while 31,002 were females, representing 49.60 per cent and 50.40 per cent, respectively.
Areghan said, “I also wish to report that a total of One Hundred and One (101) candidates with varying degrees of Special Needs were registered for the examination. Out of this number, Thirty Nine (39) were visually challenged, Fifteen (15) had impaired hearing; Ten (10) were Albinos; One (1) was spastic cum mentally challenged, and Thirty Six (36) 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 also been processed and released along with those of other candidates.”
He, however, said out of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 61,111 candidates, representing 99.35 per cent, had their results fully processed and released while 398 candidates, representing 0.65 per cent, had a few of their subjects still being processed due to errors on the part of the candidates.
He said, “The analysis of the performance of candidates shows that out of the 61,509 candidates that sat for the examination, 24,491 candidates, representing 39.82 per cent, obtained credit and above in minimum of five subjects including English and Mathematics.
“Of this number 12,040, that is 49.16 per cent, were male candidates while 12, 451 (50.84 per cent) were female candidates.”
He explained further that the percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for private candidates, 2018 and 2019, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, were 35.99 per cent and 35.10 per cent, respectively.
“Thus, there is a marginal increase of 4.72 per cent in performance in this regard,” he said.
According to Areghan, 31,751 candidates, representing 51.62 per cent, obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics; out of which 15,376 were males and 16,375 were females, representing 48.43 per cent and 51.57 per cent, respectively.
He added that the results of 5,548 candidates, representing 9.02 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, were 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 directly to the affected candidates thereafter,” he said.
The HNO expressed the council’s profound gratitude to the Government of Nigeria for creating the enabling environment for WAEC to successfully conduct the examination, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are happy to report that throughout the conduct of the examination, there was no reported case of any candidate, invigilator, supervisor, WAEC staff or any examination functionary, for that matter, going down with the dreaded Coronavirus disease,” he stated.
