By Gabriel Dike
Non-release of the June/July 2023 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) has stirred anxiety among students and parents.
The SSCE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) is required by many of the students to process their admission into tertiary institutions.
Investigations revealed that many of the SS3 students who wrote the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) did so as awaiting results (AR) candidates and required the SSCE results to determine their admission status.
Another reason for the anxiety is that some of the students wrote the May/June 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and did not get five credits required for admission into the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Daily Sun, however, gathered that barring any last minute change of decision, management of NECO would announce the results this week.
No fewer than 1,205,888 candidates registered for the 2023 SSCE with 601,074 males and 584,814 females.
The council commenced marking of the school-based SSCE answer scripts early last month and ended it on September 28.
Head of Information and Public Relations of NECO, Azeez Sani, had earlier stated that the council planned to release the results by the end of September. However, an online report said NECO has postponed the exercise to Thursday, October 5.
A senior staff of NECO assured candidates that the SSCE results would be released soonest as the process to release the 1.2 million results have been completed.
“All candidates and stakeholders are advised to stay calm and await the official release of results on the portal,” the official said.
Regardless, a parent, Oyetoro Falade, said the family was anxiously waiting for NECO to announce the release of the result.
“My son scored 256 in the 2023 UTME. He didn’t do well in WAEC and our hope is on this NECO result. It is taking them too long to release the results.”
Some of the students told Daily Sun that the delay has created anxiety.
A 17-year-old, Lekan Oguntade, said NECO delay is threatening his admission chances because he needs it to process his admission in a polytechnic.
Another worried student, Falola Samuel, said: “I don’t know why NECO is delaying the SSCE result. I learnt they have finished marking since last month. And I have been waiting for the release of the result. Most universities have started admissions and many students are anxiously waiting for the SSCE results. I applied to a university as an awaiting result candidate and with 237 in UTME, I don’t want to miss admission this year.”