Mass failure recorded in WASCE •As 80% of candidates fail English, Maths

THIS Christmas may not be the best period for most candidates who wrote the October/November 2010 West African Senior School Examination (WASCE) as 80 per cent of them failed.

The Head of National Office (HNO) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr Iyi Uwadiae, said at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos that 62,295 (20.04 per cent) of the candidates passed with English language and Mathematics.

According to him, a total of 324,998 candidates registered for the examination out of which 310,077 comprising 168, 835 males and 141,242 females sat for it.

Statistics showed that 250,487 candidates representing 80.78 per cent had two credits and above; 217,161 candidates (70.03 per cent) had three credits and above while 180, 480 (58.20 per cent) had four credits and above.

The results also revealed that 141,167 candidates (45.52 per cent) obtained five credits and above while 99, 750 candidates obtained six credits and above.

According to the HNO, a total of 133,507 candidates obtained credit and above in English language while 151, 569 candidates (48.88 per cent) obtained credit and above in Mathematics.

However, the results of 51,876 candidates, representing 16.73 per cent were being withheld based on various reports of their involvement in examination malpractice.

Commenting on the poor results, which had gone progressively worse in the last three years, Uwadiae attributed it to lack of quality teachers and infrastructure in various schools.

He stated that the results had fluctuated from 23 per cent pass in 2008; 21 per cent in 2009 and 20 per cent in 2010. He called on teachers and students to pay more attention to the use of WAEC syllabus, saying it could go a long way towards improving subsequent results.

Uwadiae said that unless the students, parents and teachers changed from their habit of cheating during examination, more candidates would continue to fail.

He said that 15,567 candidates still had their results being processed because of various anomalies, adding that errors were committed during the registration and actual conduct of the examination.