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By Gabriel Dike
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has decided the fate of 170,146 candidates whose results were withheld for alleged examination malpractices in the May/June 2021West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The 170,146 candidates represent 10.9 per cent of 1,560, 261 candidates who sat for the examination in over 19,200 schools nationwide.
The cleared results by the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) ended months of anxiety by many candidates who needed the results to process their admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Some of the candidates wrote the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as awaiting results candidates and needed the withheld results to proceed with their admission.
Statistics of the 2021 UTME showed that, out of 1,312,992 candidates that sat for the examination, 941,909 did so as awaiting results candidates.
Head of National Office (HNO), WAEC, Mr. Patrick Areghan, while announcing the release of the results, said: “The results of 170,146 candidates, representing 10.9 per cent of 1, 560,261 candidates were withheld in connection with cases of examination malpractice.
“All the cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the council for determination in due course. The committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools.’’
A communiqué, signed by the head of public affairs, WAEC, Mrs. Moyosola Adeyegbe, said the decision was taken at the 72nd Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) held at WAEC Testing and Training Centre (WTTC), Ogba – Lagos.
Adeyegbe said NEC, which is the highest decision-making organ of WAEC on examination related matters in Nigeria, meets twice a year, to consider issues relating to the conduct of WASSCE for school and private candidates.
According to her, the statutory chairman is the Chief Government Nominee on council. Membership of the Committee comprises four representatives each of the states’ ministries of education and the Department of Education of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, ANCOPSS and universities.
It also includes the Registrar to council, Head of the Nigeria National Office, Head of Test Development Division (TDD) and Head of Test Administration Division (TAD) also of the Nigeria National Office.
The statement added that NEC received reports on irregularity, special and clemency cases arising from the conduct of WASSCE for private candidates, 2020 – second series and WASSCE for private candidates, 2021- first series earlier considered at the 71st meeting of NEC.
Adeyegbe said the committee also received and considered reports on the conduct of May/June 2021 WASSCE as well as irregularity cases arising from the conduct of the examination.
“In the course of considering the various reported cases of malpractice, the committee, after diligent deliberations, approved appropriate sanctions in all established cases of malpractice, as prescribed by the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the council’s examinations.
“The image maker said NEC authorized that the entire results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Entire Results (CER) be cancelled, while subject results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Subject Results (CSR), be similarly cancelled.
She explained that some candidates sufferred other sanctions such as being barred from sitting for the council’s examinations for two years. While some schools would be derecognized for a specified number of years or have their recognition completely withdrawn.
It added: “Some supervisors that were found wanting in the discharge of their examination duties will be reported to their employers and blacklisted while some invigilators will also be reported to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary action.
The committee said the resolutions of the meeting would be implemented without delay and the affected candidates and schools duly informed by the council. However, the results of candidates who were exonerated by the committee would be released without further delay.”
She further revealed that the committee considered special cases, appeals for clemency, impounded and restitution cases from WASSCE for school candidates, 2021. NEC also received a report on the statistics of entries and results for WASSCE for private candidates, 2020 – second series and WASSCE for private candidates, 2021 – first series
NEC observed the success rate and performance of candidates who sat for the school candidates, congratulated the management of the Nigeria national office and stakeholders on the overall performance of candidates, which was a significant improvement on previous examination.
