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Tag: WASSCE

  • Experts caution council over computer-based WASSCE

    Experts caution council over computer-based WASSCE

    Educationists yesterday cautioned the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over its plan to conduct computer-based tests (CBT) for private students taking its West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

    A former Director of the Centre for General Nigerian Studies at the Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Biodun Akinpelu, advised WAEC to conduct a trial-test at least for a year before gong fully with the new examination mode.

    According to him, it is not a one-unit affair but a bipolar programme: WAEC at one end, users at the other end. 

    Akinpelu said: “It is a very good idea that will enhance objectivity in marking standard. We have tried something like that in the university and the issue of missing script/results, non-effective shading will be totally removed…

    “But the major problem is: how prepared are our students? It is not something we can jump into.

    “There should be a trial-test by WAEC and give it time within the next say three years. They seem to be in a hurry. Under normal circumstances, they should not spend less than one year before starting it, preparing the minds of learners, meeting with school principals, inspection of facilities in schools. 

    Read Also: WAEC to introduce CBT for WASSCE — HNO

    “We are not as technologically equipped to that level in Nigeria. It is something they should have given time before implementation. It should have been on subject level. When we started CBT at LASU, we started with GNS102, after one year of trial testing. We didn’t start with all the subjects. It something that requires proper planning.”

    The Vice Chancellor of Ahman Pategi University (APU) in Kwara State, Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, described the CBT as the right step in the right direction.

    He said the fact that WAEC will hybridise the examinations makes it excellent because of the prevalent ‘technophobia’ among some Nigerians.

    “I foresee a future in which booklets will be discarded all together and essay papers, especially, will also be digitally taken or typed by the candidates.

    “I commend WAEC for the initiative. When I sat TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) some two decades ago as part of the requirements for a Fulbright Fellowship award, the test, including writing, was CBT-based. I think the test has now graduated to IBT or Internet-Based Test,” he said.

  • WASSCE: School to face sanctions for registering over 50 external candidates

    Jibril Martin Memorial Grammar School, Iponri, Lagos is to face sanctions for registering external candidates for the ongoing 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.

    The school owned by the Anwar-Ul-Islam Movement of Nigeria, was one of the mission schools returned by the Lagos State government to their owners in 2001.

    Director-General, Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Ronke Soyombo who monitored the WASSCE English paper last Thursday, said the school had been flagged for malpractice in the last two years.

    During her visit, she discovered that the school had 127 SS3 pupils on its register compared to over 180 candidates presented for the examination.

    Some of the 18 external candidates her team physically identified were SS3 pupils from public schools and unapproved private schools, or candidates retaking the examination some of who were clearly overaged.

    Some of the candidates also came from far-flung places within and outside Lagos – like Ilorin, Kwara State, and Abia State.

    One of them, Afolabi Al-Ameen said he was from Al-Aleem Academy, Owode in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State, said: “This is my first time writing the SSCE.  My Mum just told me to write the WAEC here because she used to be a principal here.” He added that his school was not a centre for the WASSCE.

    Mrs Soyombo said registration of private candidates clearly contravened the laws for WAEC school examination and was fertile ground for perpetration of examination malpractice.

    “For us to check your students today to see that they are not your own bonafide students, that means you are not supposed to be an approved school.  There is a section in place in law that every approved school must stick to their own students alone. You are not supposed to condone unapproved schools to be sending their wards to your school,” she said to the school’s principal.

    The DG said sanctions would be meted out after she reports the case to the Deputy Government, Dr  Idiat Adebule, who oversees the Education sector.

    Mrs Soyombo also said her office would conduct a whole-school evaluation for the school because of lapses noted during the visit.

    She observed that the school allowed external people use its facility as parking lot, which contravenes Lagos State School safety and Safeguarding laws; there was naked wire close to toilets used by students in one of the blocks, the home economics laboratory lacked facilities and was dumping ground for old documents, and the library had no furniture or books. It was rather used to store old books and bags of packaged  water.

    At the nearby Estate Senior High School, Iponri, a public school, 80 candidates registered for English were all SS3 pupils of the school.  The DG commended them from writing their examination in their school rather than seeking miracle centres in private schools.

  • Candidates’ hard choice

    The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) clashed for five days , affecting many candidates who had to forego one for the other. Some parents and teachers are worried about the implication of this for the admission seekers. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, BUSOLA SEBIOTIMO and Zainab lawal report.

    THE 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) ended yesterday with some of the 1.8 million candidates who are also writing the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) forced to miss their Trade/Entrepreneurship Subject papers.

    The WASSCE for School Candidates began April 8 with Catering Craft Practice, Marketing and Salesmanship – all entrepreneurship subjects which are compulsory for all SS3 pupils writing the examination.  The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) scheduled all the 24 trade/entrepreneurial subjects being offered in the curriculum to be written from April 8 to April 25.

    However, a shift in the date of the 2019 utme by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) because of the rescheduled elections resulted in a clash in both examinations.

    The six-day UTME held in 700 Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide from April 11-13, and 15-17, fell within the WASSCE timetable.

    Read also: Why we are yet to release UTME results, by JAMB

    Before the examination,  WAEC Nigeria and JAMB had pledged that there would be no clash.  WAEC Nigeria’s Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Demianus Ojijeogu told The Nation at the examining body’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, that the Council would address the clash “internally and administratively.” He said candidates would not sacrifice one examination for the other.

    “I assure you that no candidate would miss their exams.  We are working on it.  The JAMB Registrar is in touch with the WAEC Head of National Office (HNO) and we will sort it out internally,” he said.

    The JAMB Public Relations Officer, Dr Fabian Benjamin, also told The Nation on phone that the examining body had been told by WAEC that there would be no clash.

    “The registrar has reached out to the HNO and he was assured that there would be no clash,” he said.

    However, findings by The Nation proved otherwise. Schools said they were not told about a change in the timetable to address the clash.

    Mr. Oluwasegun Owoeye of Ilupeju Senior Grammar School, Oshodi, lamented that WAEC did not communicate any changes to the school.  Principal of Mind Builders High School, Ikeja, also said the school did not hear from WAEC.

    Fortunately for them, pupils of both schools were not affected by the clash.

    Owoeye said the school’s chosen entrepreneurship subject was done before the UTME began.

    “The students here do Office Practice and that has been done before UTME started. WAEC did not change the timetable and these subjects that are clashing with the UTME are offered by the minority,” he said.

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  • Candidates forced to abandon WASSCE for UTME

    Some candidates writing the ongoing 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for schools were not able to sit for their examination on Thursday because it clashed with the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which started same day with three sessions scheduled daily.

    JAMB and WAEC had promised to sort out the clash in timetables which affects about 23 Entrepreneurship/Trade WASSCE subjects scheduled to hold during the six days that the UTME would last.

    SS3 candidates writing the WASSCE were scheduled to write Animal Husbandry and Store Management today (April 11, 2019) but they missed out because the paper clashed with the UTME examination.

    A parent who does not wish to be named, said his daughter and about 20 others at Providence High School, Fagba, could not sit for Animal Husbandry scheduled to start 9.30am – 30 minutes after they were to write their UTME at the Lagooz CBT Centre, O’Riley Agege, Lagos.

    “My daughter could not write Animal Husbandry today. She was to write UTME at Lagos School by 9a.m. But the exam did not start until 11am. By the time she got back to her school, she did not meet the invigilators for (Animal Husbandry). She was not the only one affected. There were about 20 of them. But their teachers told them they could get a chance to do an alternative version of the paper on the 15th,” he said.

    A teacher at Winners Treasure Kids School, Ketu, also said the clashing timetables did not affect most pupils in her school.

    A pupil from another school said nobody was affected in his school because none of them offered the subjects written on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the UTME went well in centres monitored by The Nation.

    At Connection Computer training Institute, Cele, Ojo, accreditation, and biometrics of candidates started late and was slow.

    There were four sessions for the exam – 7am, 9am, 1:30pm and 3:00pm.

    Miss Shittu Ronke, a candidate in the first batch, said the examination went well save for minor delays.

    ‘’I started the examination after 8 and finished after 10. I am a science student. I did English, Chemistry, Biology, and physics. The physics was hard for me but I did my best.

    I am happy because my computer did not trip off during the examination.  After the examination, we were told to stay in a room from there we queued up and thumb printed out’’

    Mr Kalu Uche, another candidate in the second batch, also said his system did not malfunction.

    However, a female candidate, who was meant to write Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English 7am, missed her examination.

    She said she was late because she lived too far from the CBT Centre. She got to the centre some minutes to 8am.

    The candidate who identified herself as Oge, blamed her lateness on traffic.

    ‘’I stay at Ota. I left the house around to 6am this morning. On my way, there was traffic. When registering, I picked a centre closer to my place which is Festac but I was posted here. I was told to write a letter to the Jamb Zonal Regional Office if I have a reasonable excuse,’’ she said.

    A parent, who simply called himself Mr Orji, said stopping Oge from writing the exam was pure wickedness.

    ‘’With this new order now, a girl missed her examination and there is no way or remedy for it. She was asked to write a letter to the jamb headquarters office. For me if they had allowed her to write before immediately she came, she will almost be true by now. It is just pure wickedness,” he said.

    Speaking on the conduct of the examination, Mr Kayode Gbenga, a parent urged JAMB to improve on their biometrics.

    ‘’With what I have seen, JAMB is trying. But they should and improve on their biometrics. In my opinion, thumb printing out should be done immediately after the examination. Why do the candidates have to stay in a room, queue up before they thumbprint out. It is a long process,’’ he said.

     

  • We’re working on clashing timetables, says WAEC, JAMB

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said it would work out the clash between its timetable for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School candidates and that of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which begins tomorrow.

    WAEC Nigeria’s Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Demianus G. Ojijeogu, told The Nation at the examining body’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, that the Council was in touch with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and would work out the clash “internally and administratively”.

    He assured that candidates would not have to sacrifice one examination for the other.

    “I assure you that no candidate would miss their exams. We are working on it. The JAMB Registrar is in touch with the WAEC Head of National Office and we will sort it out internally,” he said.

    JAMB Public Relations Officer, Dr Fabian Benjamin, also said the board had received assurance from WAEC that there would be no clash.

    “The Registrar has reached out to the HNO and he was assured that there would be no clash,” he said.

    According to the WASSCE timetable, WAEC scheduled two subjects, Animal Husbandry (Alternative B) 2 (Essay) and Store Management 2 (Essay), to be written 9:30am-11:30am – the same time some candidates would be busy with the UTME which would hold in Computer Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide. Animal Husbandry (Alternative B) 1 Objective and Store Management 1 (Objective) was scheduled for 11:30am-12:10pm.

    Read Also: WAEC gives 1,050 tools to 21 schools

    A parent, Mr Suleiman Olagunju from Akure expressed concern that his daughter was to write Animal Husbandry same time as her UTME tomorrow.

    He said: “I called the JAMB office and was told they were aware and would do something about it. But up till now nothing has been done. It was JAMB that rescheduled its examination because of the elections. That is the reason for this clash. WAEC timetable for the examination had been fixed.”

    The UTME is to last for one week. Meanwhile, WAEC has scheduled practical sessions for about 20 subjects between Monday, April 15, 2019 and Thursday, April 19, 2019 from 9:30am to 4.45pm each day. They include Metalwork, Home Management, Food and Nutrition, Arabic 3 (Oral), French 3 (Oral), Physical Education, Clothing and Textiles, Foods and Nutrition, Home Management, Music, Applied Electricity, Basic Electricity, Health Science, Health Education and Fisheries.

    The 2019 WASSCE for School Candidates began on Monday with three subjects, Catering Craft Practice, Marketing and Salesmanship.

  • WAEC worries over abandoned certificates

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it will deploy an Electronic Certificate Management System to facilitate issuance of certificates to candidates, to reduce the problem of abandoned certificates.

    The council’s Head, Public Affairs,Mr Damianus Ojijeogu disclosed this in an interview with our reporters on Thursday in Lagos.

    According to him, the online system will enable the council to print certificates of candidates only on request.

    “With this in place, it will assist the council in decongesting backlog of certificates lying fallow for several years with very few owners coming up to collect them.

    “With this in place, any candidate that wants his or her result will go online to make request and leave an address of where it would be delivered.

    “It does not matter where they wrote the examination.

    “The process has reached an advanced stage and hopefully, by 2019, the mechanism would be deployed,’’ Ojijeogu said.

    He said the deployment of the electronic device became necessary following the slow response by candidates in collecting their certificates several years after sitting for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination.

    Ojijeogu said that WAEC have been appealing to candidates yet to collect their certificates, but that the response had been very low.

    “In 2014 alone, we placed several advertorials in some newspapers appealing with those concerned to come forward for their certificates as they are taking up too much space in our offices.

    “We did need not get any meaningful response.

    Read Also: WAEC goes digital

    “Certificates as far back as 1980s are still lying fallow in our office with their owners not making attempt to come collect them, moreover, the number will be staggering if we should put them together.

    “Currently, the practice has been that if certificates should stay in our custody for more than four years, the owners will be charged with a custody fees of N5,000 on collection excluding the N3,500 for the collection of such certificate.’’

    According to him, certificates of candidates who wrote the 2017 Nov/Dec WASSCE, Private, have since been printed and ready for collection in all the council’s offices across the country.

    “Some persons who have written the examination repeatedly and failed are not willing to collect their certificates unless they are compelled to do so.

    “They only come around to request for it probably as part of visa requirement, job interview or screening at work places in offices.

    “This is not supposed to be so. They wrote the examination and it is only proper that they come for their certificates,” Ojijeogu said.

  • 157 inmates set to write WASSCE, as two pursue PhD

    The Lagos Prisons Command says education behind bars is getting more interesting with two of its inmates already pursuing their PhDs at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

    The Controller of Prisons, Lagos Command, Mr Tunde Ladipo disclosed this in an interview with our reporter, on Monday in Lagos.

    According to him, there is a renewed interest in education among the inmates across the various prisons in the state.

    He said that the progress and courage exhibited by the two PhD inmates at the maximum prison had sparked off a new zeal for academic pursuit among other inmates.

    “The command is committed in ensuring that no inmate is left behind in terms of education, as this is part of the reformation we are carrying out.

    “Sometime around May or June, two of the inmates who have acquired their Masters degrees enrolled for their PhD in the newly established National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) centre at the Kirikiri facility.

    “One of the inmates is studying Business Management and the other, Peace and Conflict Resolution, and the Vice Chancellor of the NOUN who personally presented them with the letter approving their PhD courses said it is tuition free.

    “To us, this is ground breaking and very encouraging, as they have shown that they are not limited by the situation they find themselves. And that is part of the essence of our on-going reformation across the prisons.

    “As a result of this, the command is also witnessing an increase of enrollment of inmates into various categories of learning at the various prisons schools.

    “We are indeed happy with the establishment of the new NOUN centre at the Kirikiri Prison, with state-of-the art facilities such as ultra modern and well stocked library, computers and air conditioners,” Ladipo told our reporter.

    According to him, a total of 157 inmates across the prisons in the state have registered for the upcoming second series of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates.

    Giving a breakdown of the statistics of the inmates from the various facilities, he said that 91 of the inmates were from the Ikoyi Prisons, 12 from the Female Prisons, 14 from from the Medium and 40 from the Maximum Prisons.

    Ladipo said that preparations were in top gear for the examination at the various facilities, to ensure that the inmates come out in flying colours.

    Read Also: 44 inmates get Oyo CJ’s pardon

    “I will like to commend the Federal government for its commitment in exposing the inmates to life-changing reforms that are ongoing currently in the prisons, through education and skills acquisition.

    “It is worthy to note that government, through the Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, recently donated books to facilities across the country for improved research, teaching and learning for the inmates.

    “This, coupled with the new facilitators we have engaged to complement the existing ones in facilities, will go a long way in improving the performance of the inmates during the WASSCE examination.

    “Aside intervention from the Federal government in preparing the inmates for the examination, a bank also presented cash donation as well as some fans, in an effort to upgrade the facilities for conducive teaching and learning,” he said.

    The state controller said that empowering the inmates with education would go a long way in restoring confidence in them, as well as make them less dependent persons, whenever they regained freedom.

  • 49.8% pass WASSCE with five credits

    THE West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates on Tuesday with the Head of Nigeria National Office, Mr. Olu Adenipekun, saying 49.8 per cent recorded credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.

    The performance of the 1,572,396 candidates from 17,886 schools was lower compared to that of 2017 which was 59.22 per cent and 2016, 52.97 per cent.

    Also, more females (396,361) hit the benchmark than males (389,655).

    However, Olanipekun said the performance could not necessarily be described as a decline as some candidates might have got relevant credits from other examinations. He said the performance was “fluctuating”.

    Of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 824,424 were males and 748,972 were females.

    A total of 854,424 candidates (54.59 per cent) made credits in five subjects, including English, but not mathematics compared to 1,213,244, who made credits in five subjects with or without English and or Mathematics.

    A total of 1,328 candidates with special needs took the examination.

    Contrary to practice over the years, the HNO did not give the statistics of results withheld as a result of examination malpractice – though he said there were cases.

    He, however, expressed hope that the council could reduce the menace using technology.

    Olanipekun hailed the examining body’s workers for helping it achieve its promise to release the results 45 days after the conclusion of the examination.

    “Permit me to use this opportunity to commend and thank the staff of council, whose sacrifice, dedication and commitment to duty contributed immensely to the success recorded during the conduct, marking, processing and the release of the results within the period of time the council promised its stakeholders,” he said.

    Olanipekun said the results can be accessed from the council’s website, www. waecdirect.org.

  • WASSCE: 49.8 percent pass with five credits

    Fourty nine per cent of candidates who wrote the West African Senior School Certificate Examination ( WASSCE ) last year recorded credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.

    The Head ofNigeria National Office of West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr Olu Adenipekun disclosed this on Wednesday.

    The performance of the 1,572,396 candidates from 17,886 schools was lower compared to that of 2017 which was 59.22 per cent and 2016, 52.97 per cent.

    Also, more females (396,361) hit the benchmark than males (389,655).

    However, Olanipekun said the performance could not necessarily be described as a decline as some candidates might have got relevant credits from other examinations. He said the performance was “fluctuating”.

    Of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination, 824,424 were males, while 748,972 were females.

    A total of 854,424 candidates (54.59 per cent) made credits in five subjects including English but not mathematics compared to 1,213,244 who made credits in five subjects with or without English and or Mathematics.

    Read Also: WASSCE papers didn’t leak, says WAEC

    A total of 1,328 candidates with special needs took the examination.

    Contrary to practice over the years, the HNO did not give the statistics of results withheld as a result of examination malpractice – though he said there were cases.

    He however expressed hope that with the Council could reduce the menace using technology.

    Olanipekun praised the workers of the examining body for helping it achieve its promise to release the results 45 days after the conclusion of the examination.

    “Permit me to use this opportunity to commend and thank the staff of Council, whose sacrifice, dedication and commitment to duty contributed immensely to the success recorded during the conduct, marking, processing, and the release of the results within the period of time the Council promised it’s stakeholders,” he said.

    Olanipekun said the results can be accessed from the Council’s website, www.waecdirect.org.

  • WAEC to release 2018 WASSCE results within 45 days—Spokesman

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has reassured that it is committed to  releasing results of its 2018 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination ( WASSCE ) for school candidates  in 45 days.

    The council’s Head of  Public Affairs, Mr Damianus Ojijeogu,  disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.

    The council, he said, was satisfied with the conduct of the  just concluded examination for school candidates nationwide.

    NAN reports that the WASSCE for school candidates commenced on March 27 and was concluded on May 15.

    “We are indeed happy that the examination was conducted in a hitch free manner.

    “Right now, we have commenced coordination, briefing and subsequently, marking.

    “We are looking at releasing the results in 45 days or earlier than that time.

    “It has been the commitment of the council to always give quality service delivery in line with the Head of National Office, Mr Olu Adenipekun’s promise to reduce the waiting days from 90 days to 45 days, ” he said.

    Ojijeogu said that technology had been deployed to some marking venues to  assist in scanning the scripts.

    He said that this would facilitate the marking of the scripts.

    According to him, this will also impact positively in the early release of the results.

    The council had also  said it would  deploy  technology that would help detect malpractice in its objective questions.(NAN)