For the first time in over a decade the percentage of candidates who made five credits and above (including English and Mathematics) in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) reached over 50 percent.
The feat was achieved by 878,040 (52.97 per cent of 1,544,234) candidates that wrote the May/June 2016 WASSCE for school candidates.
Announcing the release of the results on Friday, Head of National Office (HNO), West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Olutise Adenipekun, said the percentage that achieved the same benchmark in 2014 was 31.28 per cent, 38.68 in 2015.
He attributed the improved performance to likely greater commitment from the candidates, their teachers, and the government, saying the council did not lower its’ standard for the examination.
“There were slight improvement in 2014 and 2015. We want to believe it must have been a combination of many factors. WAEC will not compromise on our standard and I want to believe that candidates also put in their best. It will not be to their credit alone but to their teachers and the state government,” he said.
He called for the improved performance to be sustained.
“This trend of improvement should be sustained. We are looking forward to 2017 for improved performance,” he said.
Giving a breakdown of the results, Adenipekun said 158,718 candidates (9.74 per cent) have some of their results withheld because of errors at the registration stage; while 137,295 candidates have their results withheld for examination malpractice.
The HNO said results withheld for errors would be released once corrected by the council, while those withheld for malpractice would only be released if the candidate are cleared by the National Examinations Committee (NEC).
“The cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the council in due course for consideration. The committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their schools,” he said.
The results will be accessible to the candidates from Saturday, but Adenipekun said those owing would be unable to access their results online.
Some of those in this category may be public school pupils sponsored by state government. Nevertheless, the HNO said not many states are owing.
“The website is programmed such that if a candidate is owing, they may not be able to access their results. But our doors are open to listen to candidates, whether sponsored by states or not, so they are not at disadvantage,” he said.
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