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* Releases results 45 days after completion of exams
By Jon Egie
89.6 per cent of candidates that sat the 2020/2021 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) obtained credits and above in a minimum of five various subjects indicating 16.46 per cent improvement on the performance of the previous year.
Out of 1,573,848 candidates from the 19, 425 recognized secondary schools in Nigeria, who registered 1,560,261 candidates sat for the examination.
This was disclosed by Head of the Nigeria National Office of the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan.
WAEC released the results 45 days after the examination which ran between August 16 and October 8, 2021 was completed , Areghan said stating that the examination body needed to be commended for that.
He said the body faced myriads of challenges in some parts of the country including the effects of Covid-19 pandemic
“The examination, which was an international one, took place simultaneously throughout the five-member countries of the Council – The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, using the same International Timetable.
“The examination spanned seven weeks, between August 16 and October 8, 2021. Throughout the period, we were faced with serious security challenges in the South East (IPOB and ESN sit-at-home order) and banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, etc, in the north and other parts of the country. All these, coupled with the continuous effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic, made the whole exercise a Herculean one.
“In conducting the examination, we were guided by the various measures/
protocols rolled out by the Federal and various State governments, aimed at checking the spread of the Corona Virus Disease.
“The Coordination of Examiners and Marking of Candidates’ Scripts took place at Eighty-Five (85) traditional and three (3) e-Marking Venues throughout the country. A total of Seventy Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Sixty-Eight (77,368) Examiners participated in the coordination and marking exercise.
“The examination ended on October 8, 2021, and today, Monday, November 22, 2021 – 45 days after the conduct of the last paper, we are releasing the result! This is a record time, taking into consideration the fact that we lost a week to insecurity, during the marking exercise in the South East, occasioned by the heightened tension before and during the Anambra Gubernatorial election.
“It is, therefore, not true, as you can see, that WAEC delayed the release of the results of the WASSCE (SC) 2021 as is being speculated in some quarters. We have kept to our promise, in spite of all odds. We should be praised rather than being vilified. Nothing can be faster or earlier than what we have done. We do not release results without marking the scripts and processing the scores. We are grateful to the examiners for doing a good job within the stipulated period.
“A total of 1,573,849 candidates registered for the examination from 19,425 recognized secondary schools in the country. Of the number that registered for the examination, 1,560,261candidates sat the examination.
“The examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in the Benin Republic and Cote d’Ivoire, where the Nigeria curriculum for Senior Secondary School is being used. Schools in Equatorial Guinea could not present candidates for the examination due to logistic challenges posed by COVID-19. ” He said.
Breakdown of the results shows that a total of 1,539 candidates, with varying degrees of Special Needs, registered for the examination. Out of this number, 460 were visually challenged, 582 had impaired hearing; 362 were spastic cum mentally challenged and 59 were physically challenged.
“All these candidates were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination. The results of these candidates have been processed and are also being released along with those of other candidates.
“Of the total number of 1,560,261candidates that sat the examination, 784,677 were males while 775,584 were females, representing 50.29% and 49.71%, respectively.
“Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 1,256,990 candidates, representing 80.56% have their results fully processed and released while 303,271 candidates, representing 19.44% have a few of their subjects still being processed due to some issues being resolved.
“Efforts are, however, being made to speedily complete the processing to enable all the affected candidates to get their results fully processed and released within the next week.”
Analysis of results
Candidates have good standing despite hitches during the examination
Areghan said stakeholders’ collective efforts were responsible for the outstanding performance recorded by the candidates as 89.62 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics.
Analysis of the statistics of the performance of candidates in the examination shows that out of the 1,560,261 candidates that sat the examination,
1,398,370 candidates, representing 89.62%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics; 1,274,784 candidates, representing 81.7%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Gender representation
Talking about the ratio between male and female
630,138 i.e. 49.43% were male candidates, while 644,646 i.e. 50.57% were female candidates.
The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2020, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 65.24%. Thus, there is an appreciable 16.46% improvement in performance in this regard.
“The results of 170,146 candidates, representing 10.9% of the total number of candidates that sat the examination, are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice
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