The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released the 2021 Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) results and noted that there was an improvement in the number of candidates who got credits in five subjects including Mathematics and English Language.
The head of the Nigeria National Office of the examination body, Patrick Areghan, disclosed this in a press conference on Monday.
While giving a breakdown of the examination and the results, he explained that 1,560,261 candidates sat for the exercise in five countries – The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
A further breakdown of the results showed that 1,398,370 candidates who make up 89.62%, had credits and above in at least five (5) subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics.
According to him, 1,274,784 persons, representing 81.7%, had credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2020, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 65.24%,” he added.
“Thus, there is an appreciable 16.46% improvement in performance in this regard.”
He also noted that the examination which spanned seven weeks was affected by several security challenges including the sit-at-home order in the South East, banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, etc, in the north and other parts of Nigeria.
“All these, coupled with the continuous effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic, made the whole exercise a Herculean one,” the statement read.