262,803 applicants who took the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have yet to get their results from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
At a press conference to announce the results’ release, the council’s Head of National Office (HNO), Mr. Patrick Areghan, said this.
He said that multiple recorded instances of examination misconduct were the reason the findings were withheld.
According to him, this percentage represents 16.29% of all applicants who took the exam.
This, he claimed, was 6.54 percent less than the 22.83 percent observed in the class of 2022 candidates.
“The explanations for this are plausible. Exam preparation is lacking, candidates lack confidence, and they are no longer prepared to study. There is an excessive dependence on the fictitious so-called “Expo.”
“Candidates became irate when they entered the exam room and realised that everything they had celebrated was a lie. Some of them have regrettably failed the exam as a result of this, he said.
All reported cases were being investigated, he continued, and the results of the investigations would be forwarded to the relevant council committee for discussion and decision-making.
He claims that the affected candidates will be informed of the committee’s judgements through their various institutions in due course.
“Candidates who were negatively impacted by these judgements may now request remedy. This is our modest method of ensuring that the candidates have a fair hearing and upholding their core human right, he continued.
Areghan provided a detailed breakdown of the findings, noting that 20,867 recognised secondary schools in the nation contributed a total of 1,621,884 individuals who registered for the exam.
He reported that 1,613,733 of the registered candidates took the test.
According to the HNO, candidates from some schools using the Nigerian curriculum for Senior Secondary Schools in the Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea also took the exam.
He stated that out of all the candidates who enrolled for the exam, 70,794 have Special Needs of varied severity.
He claims that out of this total, 109 have vision impairments, 386 have hearing impairments, 33 have mental disabilities related to spasticity, and 34 have physical impairments.
“All of these candidates received enough support during the exam’s administration. These candidates’ results have been processed and are now being made public with those of the other contenders.
Regarding the results categories, he stated that out of the total applicants who took the exam, 1,476,565, or 91.5 percent, had their results properly processed and released.
Areghan stated that 137,168 additional candidates, or 8.5%, had some of their subjects still being processed as a result of flaws like nonchalance, sluggishness, an incomplete CASS upload, disobedience of rubrics, and other issues related to the schools and candidates in question.
The affected applicants might quickly get their results fully processed and released within the following few days, he said, adding that efforts were being made to finish the resolution process.
The executive director of WAEC discussed the statistical analysis of test-taker performance.
He claimed that it demonstrated that, of the 1,613,733 candidates who took the exam, 1,361,608 or 84.38 percent received credit or above in at least 5 subjects, including English Language and/or Mathematics, but excluding them.
“A total of 1,287,920 candidates, or 79.81%, received credits or higher in at least five disciplines, including English Language and Mathematics.
“Of this total, 616,914, or 47.9%, were male candidates; in contrast, 671,006, or 52.1%, were female candidates.
“The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates in 2022, that is, those who obtained credit and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 76.36 percent, thus, there is a 3.45 percent decrease in performance in this regard,” Areghan said.
Further, he emphasised that the council will continue to penalise all instances of test fraud, stressing that all administrators, teachers, and applicants who committed this heinous act were harming the educational system.
He issued a warning that state governments that had not yet paid the candidates’ council registration costs would not be allowed to see their results until they did.
“I need to reiterate that the results of candidates supported by states that owe the council money won’t be announced right away unless they make good on their debt.
“We kindly request that they do so so that the impacted schools and applicants may view their findings.
The candidate’s smart identity card used during the exam contains the Result Checker PIN and Serial Number needed by candidates to check their results online, he said.
The 2023 WASSCE for School Candidates results have already begun to appear on the results website, according to the HNO, whose position ends on October 1.
“As I speak, a very significant novelty is that candidates can access their digital certificates simultaneously after reviewing the results.
This means that the Digital Certificates of candidates who took the WASSCE for School Candidates this year and have no outstanding difficulties, such as unanswered questions or hanging cases of examination malpractice, are available on the Digital certificate platform.
“In 90 days, printing of the actual (hard copy) certificates will begin. With the help of this innovation, admissions procedures will be streamlined and very mobile.
“Candidates who have met their financial commitments to the Council may see their results at http://www.waecdirect.org, the Council’s results website.
Candidates can visit WAEC to verify, share, and download digital copies of their certificates after viewing their results. The list of results will soon be distributed to the schools.
“Another innovation is that candidates can now verify their registration information online to ensure accuracy and prevent later requests for amendments that might not even be allowed. As part of the prerequisites for registration, candidates must provide their NIN, he said.
He claimed that the council had run into problems while preparing to conduct its inspection, including insecurity and failure to comply to the registration deadline.
