Gabriel Dike
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Friday released the result of the May/June 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in which 64. 18 per cent obtained five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Out of the 1, 590, 173million candidates who sat for the school exam, 1,020,519million made credits and above in minimum of five subjects, including English and Mathematics.
The implication of the five credits, including English and Mathematics brightened the chances of the candidates securing admission for the 2019/2020 academic session.
The Head of Nigeria National office of WAEC, Mr. Olu Olanipekun, who disclosed this to newsmen at the Yaba headquarters of the Council in Lagos, said candidates can check their results online.
According to him “Of this number, 507, 862 that is 49.77 per cent male candidates, and 512,657 that is 50.23 per cent were female candidates. The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for school candidates in 2018 was 52.18 per cent. The 2019 results represent about 10 per cent increase against 2018 performance by candidates.
“The results of 180,205 candidates, representing 11.33 per cent 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 in due course.”
The Council added that, a total of 1,596,161 candidates registered for the examination from 18,639 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria. Of the number that registered for the examination, 1,590,173 candidates sat the exam. Adenipekun posited that 1,918 candidates with varying degrees of special needs were registered for the examination.
“Out of this number 299 were visually challenged, 842 had impaired hearing; 158 had low vision; 75 spastic cum mentally challenged, and 85 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 other candidates”, the HNO stated. He said details of the results are already available online and candidates who fulfilled their financial obligations to the council are free to check their performance on the website: www.waecdirect.org.
Reacting to the issue of examination malpractice, HNO said the Council has developed technology to discover fraud among the candidates. In a related development, Olanipekun said it is unfortunate for school owners to charge WAEC candidates extra fees, saying the Council does not charge outside the fee published in the media.
He confirmed that some candidates in states will not be able to access their results because of non payment of the exam fees. ‘’Many states, particularly ten in the North usually pay for the candidates. We still have some that are making effort at settling their debt”.