WAEC Withholds 215,267 Results Over Examination Malpractice

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 215,267 candidates who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) due to various cases of examination malpractice. This figure represents 11.92% of the 1,805,216 candidates who took the exam this year.

The 2024 WASSCE, which began on April 30th and ended on June 24th, saw a large number of students participating across Nigeria. However, during the announcement of the results on Monday, the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, revealed that the council had to withhold the results of a significant number of candidates due to reported cases of cheating.

Dr. Dangut explained that the percentage of withheld results was slightly lower this year, with a decrease of 4.37% compared to the 16.29% of results withheld in 2023. He emphasized that WAEC remains committed to tackling examination malpractice and would continue to take strong action against anyone involved in such activities.

“Schools, supervisors, teachers, and candidates who engage in examination malpractice are undermining our educational system,” Dr. Dangut stated. “The increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls and organized cheating in some schools are serious concerns. All cases are currently under investigation, and the findings will be presented to the appropriate committee of the Council for final decisions.”

Dr. Dangut further mentioned that the decisions made by the committee would be communicated to the affected candidates through their respective schools. He also noted that candidates involved in malpractice could seek redress through the WAEC website if they wished to contest the decisions.

Despite the challenges, the majority of students performed well in the examination. Dr. Dangut reported that 73.79% of candidates achieved credit or above in at least five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics. This means that 1,332,089 candidates out of the total 1,805,216 passed the exam with the necessary credits.

Encouraging students to take advantage of the online resources, Dr. Dangut said, “As the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024 results are being uploaded on the results website, candidates should, after checking their results online, apply for their Digital Certificates, which will be released 48 hours thereafter.”

He also assured that candidates who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council would be able to access their results online within the next 12 hours, with copies of the Result Listing sent to schools shortly.

The WASSCE is conducted in four WAEC member countries: Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. This year’s examination, despite the issues of malpractice, continues to be a critical milestone in the educational journey of students across West Africa.