By Gabriel Dike

Only 30 per cent of candidates that sat for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates obtained five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.

Head of Nigeria National Office (HNO) of West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr. Patrick Areghan, who disclosed this  said 7,690 candidates entered for the examination which was conducted between February 15 and March 11, while 7,289 actually sat for the examination at 252 centres across the country. He attributed the  drop to the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the percentage of private candidates in 2019 and 2020 that got credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics were 26.08 per cent and 32.23 per cent respectively.

Areghan said there was a marginal decrease of 2.12 per cent in the performance of candidates for 2019 and 2020 compared to 2021 result. 

He said of the 7,289 candidates that sat the examination, 3,593 were males while 3,696 were females, representing 49.29 per cent and 50.71 per cent respectively.

He disclosed that the May/June 2021 WASSCE would no longer hold in May because COVID-19 disrupted the academic calendar of schools nationwide. 

He said out of the 7,289 that sat for the examination, the results of 599 were withheld in connection with various 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. This low number is as a result of the rigorous monitoring/inspection of centres by the council’s staff throughout the duration of the examination,’’ Areghan said.

According to him, 7,174 candidates had their results fully processed and released, while 115 others had a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors traceable to them.

He said that efforts were being made to complete the processing to enable all affected candidates get their results fully processed and released.

Analysis of statistics of performance of candidates showed that out of those that sat for the examination, a total of 3,938 obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects with or without English Language and/or Mathematics.

A total of 2,195 others obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.