WAEC: Less than 50% candidates obtain 5 credits

The West African Examinations Council has withheld a total of 28,817 results of candidates who sat for the 2014 November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The Head of the National Office of the Council, Charles Eguridu, disclosed this at a news conference to announce the release of the November/December diet of its examination on Thursday in Lagos, The Eagle Online reports.
According to Eguridu, the results are being held in connection with various cases of examination malpractice.
He said that such cases were already being investigated and that the reports of the investigations would be presented to the Nigeria Examination Committee of the council for consideration.
Eguridu said that the committee’s decision would be communicated to the affected candidates in due course.
He said that in order to maintain uniformity, guard against malpractice and improve standards, the council had designed and introduced customised, transparent mathematical sets, with an in-built non-programmable scientific calculator.
Eguridu said that the calculator would help in ensuring conformity with the rules and regulations of the examination.
He said that the council had continued its quest of improving its service delivery system, particularly through the deployment of Information and Communication Technology.
Eguridu noted that during the November/December examination, the council deployed biometric technology in the registration of candidates.
He added that the data captured during the registration formed the basis for the identification of candidates and taking of attendance during examination.
Giving a further breakdown of the results of candidates, he said that a total of 246,853 candidates, consisting of 132,521 male and 114,332 female candidates sat for the examination.
He noted that of the figure, a total of 241,161 candidates representing 97.69 per cent had their results fully released, while 5,691 others, representing 2.31 per cent, had a few of their subjects still being processed, due to some errors.
Eguridu said that the errors were mainly traceable to the candidates and cyber cafés in the course of registration or writing the examination.
He explained that the errors were already being corrected by the council, to enable the affected candidates get their results.
Eguridu said that a total of 75,313 candidates, obtained six credits and above, while 110,346 others obtained five credits and above, which is less than 50 per cent of the candidates that sat for the examination.
To gain admission into a recognised higher institution in Nigeria, a candidate requires at least five credits, with English and Mathematics a must in most cases.
According to Eguridu, 145,036 candidates representing 58.75 per cent obtained credits and above in four subjects, while 177,177 others representing 71.77 per cent obtained credits and above in three subjects.
He said that a total of 205,090 candidates obtained credits and above in two subjects.
Eguridu also said that 72,522 candidates obtained credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
He said that a total of 48 blind candidates registered and sat for the examination, with four of them obtaining credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Eguridu said that the result, when compared to the council’s 2012 and 2013 diets of the same examination, was a marked increase in candidates’ performance.
He noted that as an organisation that was innovation driven, the council had introduced the ‘Walk-in-Candidates’ registration.
According to him, the platform allows intending candidates who were unable to register during the normal registration period to register and sit for the examination.
Eguridu noted that the 2014 November/December WASSCE recorded a total of 701 ‘Walk-in-Candidates’ who registered and sat for the examination.
On how the council was able to conduct the examination in some states with security concerns, Eguridu lauded the joint efforts of the Federal and the affected state governments.
He also commended other security agencies for providing the council with enough security through the conduct of the examination.
He said: “I must say that we faced a lot of challenges, moving our materials and men to such areas.
“But I think at the end of the day, we equally have to thank God that no casualty was recorded.”
Eguridu, however, urged candidates who sat for the examination to check the details of their performance on the council’s result website, within the next 48 hours.
The Eagle Online