Mass Failure in WASSCE

Fri, Dec 19, 2014
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Education

The results of the West African Senior School Certificate released on Thursday, December 18, has shown that 70.63 percent of the 246,853 failed the examination

By Olu Ojewale  |  Dec. 29, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT  |

NIGERIA education system received a big jolt on Thursday, December 18, when the result of the 246,853 candidates who sat for the November/December 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, showed that only 72,522 candidates, representing 29.37 per cent, obtained credits in five subjects, including Mathematics and English Language. This, apparently, puts the percentage of failure at 70.63 percent.

Charles Eguridu, head of the Nigeria national office of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, who announced the results in Lagos on Thursday, December 18, said: “145,036 candidates, representing 58.75 per cent, obtained credits and above in four subjects while 177.177 candidates, representing 71.77 per cent, obtained credits and above in three subjects. A total of 205,090 candidates (83.08) obtained credits and above in two subjects.”

However, Eguridu said there was an improvement when compared with last year’s 26.97 percent (amounting to 80,135 candidates) who obtained five credits in five subjects, including Mathematics and English Language.

He also said there was a marked reduction in examination malpractices, which he attributed to recent measures, such as the introduction of biometric registration and customised mathematical sets with inbuilt calculators, taken to curb the scourge.

That notwithstanding, Eguridu said the WAEC withheld results of 28,817 candidates. He said the results which represented 11.67 percent of the number of candidates who wrote the examination, were withheld for various cases of malpractices.

The cases, according to him, are being investigated with the reports of findings expected to be presented to the National Examination Committee for consideration. Last year, the WAEC withheld 38,260 results, equivalent of 12.88 percent of the total number of candidates who sat for the examination for similar reasons.

In addition, Eguridu said the council was still working on papers of 5,691 candidates (about 2.3 percent) whose results, were still being processed for errors he blamed on the candidates and cyber café operators.

He said, “Of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 75,313 candidates (30.5 per cent) obtained credits and above in six subjects; 110,346 candidates (44. 7 per cent) obtained credits and above in five.

The total number of candidates that sat for the examination this year fell short by 61,364 of the 308,217 candidates that wrote the examination last year – a decline of about 20 percent.

In all, what has become worrisome for some persons, especially parents, is the number of failures being recorded. Speaking on a radio programme of Friday, December 19, Onyekachi Ubani, a lawyer and social commentator, said government should investigate activities of private schools. He said: “These private schools charge so much money, yet they don’t have qualified teachers to teach our children.”

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