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The West African Examination Council (WAEC) says Nigeria recorded a decline in cases of examination malpractice in the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates. About 11.92% of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice representing 4.37% lower than the 16.29% recorded in the WASSCE for School Candidates in 2023.
Announcing the release of results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for this year’s school candidates, Dr. Amos Dangut, Head of the Nigeria National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) frowned at the increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban on the practice.
Dr. Dangut promised that all cases of examination malpractice were being investigated and reports of the investigations would be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council for consideration and final decisions.
To underscore the determination of examination body to confront indiscipline in the education, the WAEC boss maintained that “the Council will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice as schools, supervisors, teachers and candidates perpetrating this evil are not helping the educational system. All hands must therefore be on deck to sanitize the system.”
Dr. Dangut also drew a line on the sand for all state governments indebted to WAEC. Hear him: “I need not restate the fact that the results of candidates who are sponsored by States indebted to the Council will not be released now until payment is made.”
He, however, appealed to the affected states to live up to their debt obligations to enable the affected schools/candidates access their results.
According to the figures released by the Head of WAEC’s National Office, about 93.39% of 1,685,889 total number of candidates have their results fully processed and released.
A further breakdown of the figures shows nearly a gender balance with 49.68% being male and 50.32% female. 9520 candidates who registered for the 2024 examination did not show up. In the words of Dr. Dangut, “a total of 1,814,736 candidates registered for the examination from 25,126 recognized secondary schools in the country. Of the number that registered for the examination 1,805,216 candidates sat for the examination.”
Dr. Dangut who has been at helm for about a year outlined series of challenges encountered around conduct of examination by the Council including security issues in parts of the country, non-adherence to registration deadline, inflationary trends in the country, and operation of rogue websites supported by some examination supervisors, he described as “shameless.
The leadership of WAEC in Nigeria. The Head of National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut (Middle) flanked by his team including Mrs. Eucharia Onodu, Senior Deputy Registrar, Test Administration (3rd R-L)
