Nigeria contributes 80% of exams candidates ―WAEC

 

THE Chairperson of the West African Examination Council, Dr Evelyn Kandakai, has revealed that Nigeria contributes over 80 per cent annually of candidature for the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination conducted by the Council.

Kandakai, who made this known on Wednesday in Abuja at the ongoing 65th Annual Council Meeting of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), said, “Nigeria is a dependable backbone which provides strength and stability for the entire WAEC family”.

She spoke against the backdrop of figures released by the Registrar of the Council, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, which indicated that of the five participating countries, including Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Nigeria contributed 77.77 per cent in 2016 WASSCE.

In 2016, the Council’s international examination – the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) – was taken by a total of 2,223,819 candidates made up of 1,887,491 school candidates and 336,328 private candidates in all the Member Countries.

Country by country analysis of the total enrolment figure shows that the Council enrolled in The Gambia 15,954 candidates (or 0.72%), in Ghana 402,607 candidates (or 18.10%), in Nigeria 1,729,382 candidates (or 77.77%), in Sierra Leone 65,456 candidates (or 2.94%) and in Liberia the piloting of the examination which was interrupted by Ebola resumed with 10,420 school candidates (or 0.47%).

She, however, lamented that these examinations were bedeviled by poor performance and the activities of cheats and fraudsters.

She said the poor performance of candidates in public examinations has remained worrisome to stakeholders in education, stressing that improving the performance of candidates should be a goal for all.

Kandakai, said the Research Department of WAEC had conducted studies on this and other important educational issues in the member countries and that the reports of these studies have been made available to stakeholders through the Council’s publications and websites.

The WAEC Registrar, disclosed that after a brief period of disruption of activities by the health crisis and insurgency in some member countries, all the scheduled examinations of the Council were successfully conducted in 2016.

He noted that the last time Nigeria hosted the Council meeting was in 2012 when the 60th Meeting took place in this same city of Abuja, adding that The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia took their hosting turns in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. Ghana hosted the meeting in 2016 and it will be the turn of The Gambia to host again come March 2018.

He said: “Examination malpractice remains a major source of distraction for WAEC, as the scourge has persisted in the Member Countries of the Council. The Council has continued to utilise every available means and opportunity to discourage the die-hard perpetrators of the malaise.

“Appeals have also gone to stakeholders in education, particularly our Member Governments, to partner WAEC more seriously in the fight against the cankerworm, which threatens the quality of academic attainments and manpower production in our sub-region.

“Misguided candidates ferociously seek for short cuts to examination success while their depraved adult collaborators carry out their damnable acts for financial rewards.

“The consequences of examination malpractice on educational institutions, especially examining bodies, are grave and worrisome. Apart from the damage done to our image, credibility or reputation, we waste huge chunks of our meagre resources in the fight against the evil,” he stated.