Two hundred and sixty two thousand, six hundred and fifty one candidates, representing 62.3 per cent of the 406,108 who sat for November/December 2012 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) failed to score up to five credits including English Language and Mathematics.
Head, Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Charles Eguridu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Lagos yesterday. He said 413,266 candidates registered for the examination, but 406,108, representing 98. 27 per cent had their results processed.
Eguridu said "150,615 candidates, representing 37.97 per cent obtained credits in five subjects and above including English Language and Mathematics." If that figure is deducted from the number of candidates whose results were processed which is 406, 108, then it would be safe to conclude that over 62 per cent of the candidates who participated, actually failed.
A comparative analysis of the 2012 result with that of candidates who sat for same examination in 2010 and 2011, however, showed marginal improvement as only 24.16 and 36.07 per cents actually scored five credits including English Language and Mathematics for 2010 and 2011, respectively.
The WAEC boss said 47, 289 candidates' result, representing 11.04 per cent, are still being withheld over various cases of examination malpractices.
"Such cases are being investigated and the reports of the investigations would be presented to the Nigerian Examinations Committee (NEC) shortly for consideration. The Committee's decision will be communicated to the affected candidates through our zonal and branch offices," Eguridu said.
Eguridu also said out of the 49 blind candidates who registered for the examination, 23 of them, representing 46.93 per cent actually obtained credits in five subjects including English Language. He noted that blind students are not allowed to sit for Mathematics and science practical in WASSCE diets.