by Jewel Stephen

The results of the November/December 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have been released with 70% of the candidates failing woefully.

Of the total number of students that sat for the exam, only 72,522 (29.37 per cent) obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

Head of the Nigeria National Office (HNO) of the council, Mr. Charles Eguridu, who revealed this in Lagos on Thursday, said a total of 246,853 candidates (excluding absentees), consisting of 132,521 male and 114,332 female candidates sat for the examination.

Out of the total number of candidates, he said 241,161 candidates, representing 97.69 per cent had their results fully released, while 5,691 candidates, representing 2.31 per cent had a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors mainly traceable to the candidates and cyber cafes in the course of registration or writing the examination.

“Such errors are being corrected by the council to enable the affected candidates get their results.”

According to him, of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 75,313 candidates (30.50 per cent) obtained six credits and above; 110,346 candidates (44.70 per cent) obtained five credits and above; 145,036 candidates (58.75 per cent) obtained credits and above in four subjects; 177,177 candidates (71.77 per cent) obtained credits and above in three subjects; while 205,090 candidates (83.08 per cent) obtained credits and above in two subjects.

Eguridu stated that the results of 28,817 candidates (11.67 per cent) are currently withheld in connection with various cases of examination malpractice.

“Such cases are being investigated and the reports of the investigations will be presented to the Nigeria Examination Committee (NEC) of the council for consideration. The committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates in due course.”

He said candidates would be able to check the details of their performance on the council’s website, www.waecdirect.org within 48 hours after the announcement.

The HNO, who regretted the poor performance among Nigerian students in external examinations, said the problem is that most schools fail to cover the syllabus, but only teach students to pass examinations.