The West African Examinations Council has attributed the significant drop in performance of students to newly implemented anti-malpractice measures.
OSUN DEFENDER reports that the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination was announced on Monday.
The results released yesterday indicated that out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32 per cent, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The 38.32 per cent performance for this year is the poorest compared to those recorded since 2020.
The 38.32 marks a sharp decline compared to the 72.12 per cent recorded in the 2024 WASSCE.
Dangut said the drop followed the introduction of stricter examination protocols designed to curb malpractice.
“The drop in performance can be attributed to new anti-malpractice measures, including the serialisation of objective papers in key subjects, which made collusion and cheating more difficult,” he said.
According to him, a total of 1,517,517 results, representing 77.06 per cent, were fully processed and released, while 451,796 results, accounting for 22.94 per cent, are still being processed due to technical or administrative issues.
He added that female candidates slightly outperformed their male counterparts in the key benchmark category. Of the 754,545 candidates who passed five subjects, including English and Mathematics, 407,353 were female (53.99 per cent) while 347,192 were male (46.01 per cent).
WAEC also disclosed that 1,718,090 candidates, representing 87.24 per cent, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, whether or not they included English and Mathematics.
Furthermore, results of 192,089 candidates, amounting to 9.75 per cent, are being withheld over alleged involvement in various forms of examination malpractice—a reduction from the 11.92 per cent recorded in 2024.
A total of 12,178 candidates with special needs sat for the examination.
These included visually impaired, hearing-impaired, physically and mentally challenged students, whose results were processed along with others.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
