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61 percent of candidates fail WASSCE

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YINKA LAWAL
For the fifth consecutive year, candidates who sat for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have recorded mass failure.

Only 616,370 candidates, representing 38.68% of the 1,593,442 who sat for the examinations, obtained credits in five subjects and above – including English Language and Mathematics – which qualifies them for admission into tertiary institution.

This was announced yesterday in Yaba, Lagos by the WAEC Head of the Nigerian National Office, HNO, Mr. Charles Eguridu.

In justifying the slight improvement in the results from previous years, Eguridu said that in 2013, the total number of candidates who obtained five credits in English and Mathematics was 639,760 representing 38.30 per cent.

He recalled that in 2014, as much as 529,425 candidates representing 31.28 per cent obtained five credits in English and Mathematics.

He also said that 118,101 of the overall 1,605,245 candidates, who registered and sat for the examination, had their results withheld, in connection with various cases of examination malpractice.

According to him, the cases are being investigated, and reports of the investigations will be presented to the Nigerian Examinations Council (NEC) of WAEC in due course, for consideration.

He said that the committee’s decision would be communicated to the affected candidates through their schools.

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Eguridu said of the total number of candidates who sat for the examination – comprising 864,096 males and 729,346 females – 1,498,069 of them, representing 94.01 per cent, had their results fully released.

He said that 95,373 others, representing 5.99 per cent, had a few of their subjects still being processed due to errors made by candidates and schools, in the course of registration or writing the examination.

“Such errors are being corrected by the council to enable the affected candidates get their results fully processed and released subsequently,” he said.

Giving more details, Eguridu said that 758,849 candidates obtained six credits and above, while 949,862 candidates, obtained five credits and above.

He said that 1,114,988 others obtained at least one credit and above in four subjects, while 1,295,915 candidates obtained a credit and above in three subjects.

The HNO said that 1,376,743 candidates obtained a credit and above in two subjects.

On the critical university entrance mark, he said that 616,370 candidates, obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

Eguridu said that 20 of the 109 blind candidates who registered and sat for the examination obtained credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

He said that the examination was conducted against all odds, which included security, logistics and fuel shortage, among other challenges.

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The Head of the National Office said that the council this year had extended the conduct of the examination to four centres in the Republic of Benin and one other in Cote d’Ivoire, sequel to calls by Nigerian stakeholders in those countries.

Eguridu said that due to the high incidence of lost or missing certificates, the council had introduced a new ‘Attestation of Results’ document which could be obtained on request, to serve as replacement for lost certificates as it does not issue certificates twice.

The HNO said that candidates who sat for the examination would be able to check the details of their results on the council’s website beginning today.

Eguridu also said that it withheld the results of government sponsored candidates in 13 states indebted to it.

The examination body had recently raised the alarm that 19 states owed the agency about N4billion, a debt that it claimed could cripple its operations.

WAEC, on July 27, had urged 19 states indebted to it over candidates’ registration fees for the 2015 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to pay up, or risk getting such results withheld.

Eguridu, however, said that only a few of the debtor states responded by paying their debts fully or partially.

He said that few other states made promises, indicating their willingness to pay as soon as they were able to do so. He said that some of the debtor states had not made any effort in addressing the issue.

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