Dr. Amos Dangut, Head, National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced the release of the 2024 examination results conducted by the body, saying 215, 267 candidates results of those who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) (School Candidates) were withheld over alleged malpractice. Dangut stated this while announcing the results on Monday, August 12, 2024 in Lagos.

According to Dangut, the number represents 11.92 percent of candidates who sat for the examination. He reported that the figure was 4.37 percent lower than the 16.29 percent recorded in the same diet, in 2023.

“The withheld results of these candidates that sat for the examination are in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice.

“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, despite the existing ban and organized cheating in some schools, are other nagging issues.”

He continued, “All the cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the council, for consideration and final decisions,” he said.

He added that the committee’s decisions would be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools, in due course.

Dangut advised candidates affected by the decisions to call for redress of their cases, if they so wished, via https://waecinternational.org.

He said that schools, supervisors, teachers, and candidates perpetrating the evil were not helping the educational system.

“All hands must therefore be on deck to sanitize the system,” he said.

Giving a further breakdown of the results, Dangut said a total of 1,814,736 candidates registered for the examination from 25,126 recognized secondary schools in the country, out of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 896,894 are male, while 908,322 are female, representing 49.68 percent and 50.32 percent, respectively.

He added that of the 1,814,736 candidates that registered for the examination, only 1,805,216 sat the examination.

He noted that the examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigerian curriculum for senior secondary schools was being used.

“Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 1,685,889 candidates, representing 93.39 percent have their results fully processed and released while 119,327 others, representing 6.61 percent, have one or more of their subjects still being processed, due to some issues being resolved.

“Efforts are, however, speedily ongoing to complete the process and release the affected candidates’ results within a couple of days,” he said.

According to him, the analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination shows that out of the 1,805,216 candidates that sat for the examination, 1,332,089 representing 73.79 percent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects.

He explained that this was with or without English Language and or Mathematics.

Speaking further, he said a total of 1,301,941 candidates, representing 72.12 per cent obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

“Of this number, 628,820, that is, 48.30 percent are male candidates, while 673,121 representing 51.70 percent are female candidates.

“A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School, 2023 and 2024, reveals that in 2024 WASSCE, there is a 7.69 percent decrease in performance.

“That is when compared with those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, which was 79.81 percent,” he said.

Dangut further said that a total of 109,115 candidates with varying degrees of Special Needs registered for the examination.

According to him, of the number, 145 are visually challenged, 473 have impaired hearing, 44 are spastic cum mentally challenged, and 38 are physically challenged.

“All these candidates were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination.

“The results of these candidates have been processed and are also now being released along with those of other candidates,” he said.

The WAEC boss cited security concerns as one of the challenges encountered by the council in conducting the examination nationwide.

“The ‘Sit-at-home’ order in the Southeast and the industrial action embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), coincided with the days major papers were to be written.

“These posed a serious threat that could have deprived Nigerian candidates of the privilege of sitting the papers with their counterparts in other member countries.

“I am exceedingly glad that the Nigerian populace saw reason to allow candidates sit all the papers,” he said.

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