No fewer than 503,275 candidates who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) failed English Language and Mathematics.

The WAEC Head of National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, disclosed this while announcing the release of the WASSCE results in Lagos State on Monday, August 12, 2024.

Dangut said a total of 1,814,736 candidates registered for the examination from 25,126 recognised secondary schools in the country.

He said of the total number of candidates who sat for the examination, 896,894 are male, while 908,322 others are female, representing 49.68 per cent and 50.32 per cent, respectively.

He stated that of the 1,814,736 candidates that registered for the examination, only 1,805,216 sat the examination.

The WAEC boss revealed that the results of 215,267 candidates were withheld over alleged malpractice, adding that the examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigerian curriculum for senior secondary schools was being used.

Dangut said: “Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 1,685,889 candidates, representing 93.39 per cent have their results fully processed and released while 119,327 others, representing 6.61 per cent, have one or more of their subjects still being processed, due to some issues being resolved.

How to check 2024 WASSCE results

“Efforts are, however, speedily ongoing to complete the process and release the affected candidates’ results within a couple of days.”

According to him, the analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination shows that out of the 1,805,216 candidates who sat for the examination, 1,332,089 representing 73.79 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects.

He explained that this was with or without English Language and or Mathematics.

The WAEC boss further stated that 1,301,941 candidates, representing 72.12 per cent obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

Dangut added: “Of this number, 628,820, that is, 48.30 per cent are male candidates, while 673,121 representing 51.70 per cent are female candidates.

“A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School, 2023 and 2024, reveals that in 2024 WASSCE, there is 7.69 per cent decrease in performance.

“That is when compared with those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, which was 79.81 per cent.”

The Star