The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) yesterday released the result of its new diet of the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for private candidates, held in January.
Only 17.13 per cent of the 11,307 candidates who took the examination had credits in English language, Mathematics and three other subjects.
Announcing the release of the result yesterday at the WAEC headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, the Head of National Office, Mr. Olu Adenipekun, said the performance was poor compared to those of the regular diets held in 2016 and 2017.
He, however, hoped that the result and number of candidates would improve with time and achieve the objective for which it was introduced last year.
Adenipekun said: “I wish to report here that the conduct of the WASSCE for private candidates in 2018 – First Series – was indeed a success in Nigeria. It is hoped that the additional diet of the WASSCE for private candidates will reduce pressures on the conduct of WASSCE for school candidates; address the do-or-die attitude of some candidates and thereby reduce their tendency for involvement in examination malpractices. The additional diet of the WASSCE for private candidates is part of WAEC’s contributions to the efforts of the governments at all levels to bring about expansion in educational opportunities in the West African sub-region.
“Of the 11,307 that sat for the examination, the council withheld the results of 1,021 candidates for examination malpractices.
“A total of 4,937 who took the examination were female, while 6,370 were male.”