Why WASSCE may not hold in May/June – WAEC reveals

West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced the suspension of its 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) earlier scheduled for May/June, may not hold.

This is as the examination body has announced the release of results for WASSCE for private candidates, 2021, first series on Tuesday in Lagos.

This disclosure was made by the Head of Nigerian National Office (HNO) of WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan, on Tuesday in Lagos, where he said that the effect of the coronavirus pandemic is still much felt in the education sector.

What the Head of the Nigerian National Office of WAEC is saying

Areghan pointed out that the entire education calendar has been distorted and, therefore, it may not be possible to conduct the examination as scheduled.

“Let me use this opportunity to disperse rumours, being peddled about by some people regarding the conduct of the WASSCE for school candidates, 2021. The effect of the COVID-19 is still very much felt in the education sector and this has taken its toll on the academic calendar in the country.

“It is, therefore, not going to be possible to have the examination in May/June this year. A convenient international time table for the conduct of this examination will soon be released. To this effect, all stakeholders are, therefore, requested to keep their fingers crossed until they hear directly from WAEC,’’ the WAEC boss said.

He appealed to all the school principals and proprietors to keep to the stipulated timelines for the enrolment of candidates for the examination.

Areghan said that from the analysis of the results, out of 7,690 candidates that entered for the examination which was conducted between February 15 and March 11 with a total of 431 examiners participating in the coordination and marking exercise, 7,289 candidates actually sat for the examination at 252 centres across the country.

He noted that the drop in the figure is attributable to the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that out of the 7,289 candidates that sat for the examination, 599 results were withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice with 7,174 candidates having their results fully processed and released while 115 others have 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 the affected candidates to get their results fully processed and released subsequently.

According to him, further analysis of the 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.

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

Areghan advised candidates who sat for the examination to check details of their performance on the council’s website – www.waecdirect.org.

He said that the collection of certificates for the WASSCE for private candidates would be based on request online via the Electronic Certificate Management System platform (e-certman).