The West African Examinations Council ( WAEC) on monday announced the release of the results of the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations ( WASSCE) it conducted this year

The Head of the National Office in Nigeria, Patrick Areghan said results of this year’s Examination which spanned six weeks were released exactly 45 days after the examination.

He explained that the results are those of candidates that sat for 2022 WASSCE which took place from May 16th to June 23,2022.

However he didnt give details of the performances of the candidates in the Examination.

Daily Newscraft reports West African countries namely Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia are members of the examination body.

Giving the details of the results Areghan said results of 365,564 candidates thst sat for the 2022 WASSCE were withheld out of a total of 1,607,981 candidates that registered for the examination from 20,222  recognised secondary schools across the country.

A total of 1,601, 047 candidates sat for the examination.
According to him the withheld results were as a result of   various reported cases of examination malpractices.

The Head of National office in Nigeria stated that the number of withheld results represents 22.83 per cent, making it 11.74 per cent higher than the 10.9 per cent recorded in the same examination last year .
Areghan identified lack of zeal to learn as largely responsible for the ugly situation.

“I will say preparation for examination among our students is taking a serious nose dive, due to over-reliance on the so-called ‘Expo’, which is actually non-existent.
“Candidates simply got frustrated when they entered the examination hall and discovered that all they had celebrated, was actually fake. Areghan stated.

He stated further , “This has pitiably led to some of them failing the examination, which if they had relied on themselves and studied hard, would have passed like many others,” he stated.
He asdurec that the council would continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice in order to stem the ugly development.

He warned that any candidate, school, teachers or supervisor that is caught in an evil act would be punished as such actions doesn’t help our educational system and pleaded that all hands must be on deck to check the menese of examination malpractice.

Areghan pointed out that the increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools were other nagging issues.
According to him,WAEC examination was also administered to candidates from three African countries namely Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigerian curriculum for senior secondary school are taught.

The breakdown of the results shows that of the total 1,601, 047 candidates who sat for the examination, 1,713 of them had varying degrees of special needs.
“Of the number of candidates with special needs,128 of them were visually challenged, 583 others had impaired hearing and 387 were spastic cum mentally challenged.

“We also had 12 others who are physically challenged. All these candidates were adequately provided for,  in the administration of the examination. He stated.
“Results of these category of candidates have been processed and are also now being released along with those of other candidates,” he explained.
Speaking further on the result, Areghan said that of the total number that sat for the examination, a total of 1,437,629 candidates representing 89.79 per cent had their results fully processed and released.
According to him, a total of 163,418 others,  representing 10.21 per cent had a few of their subjects still being processed, due to some issues that are still being resolved.

He, however, noted that efforts were  being made to speedily complete the processing, to enable all the affected candidates to get their results fully processed and released within the next one week.
Areghan said that further statistics of candidates’ performance at the examination showed that 1,409, 529 , representing 88.04 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects, that is, with or without English Language and/or Mathematics.

According to him, 1,222,505 others, representing 76. 36 per cent who sat  for the examination, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
He noted that there was a 5.34 per cent decrease in performance, when compared to the 81.70 per cent obtained by candidates in the same category in 2021, in the same examination diet.

The Head of National Office in Nigeria stated that the council’s Digital Security Printing press has been set up and would soon be commissioned.
According Areghan, the digital security printing press, which is the first of its kind by the council in Nigeria, is in response to its  growing operational needs.