Mass failure in WASSCE: Parents, group want papers cancelled

…WAEC prevented cheating – Investigation

By Adesina Wahab

Reactions have continued to trail the mass failure of candidates in this year’s Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations, SSCE, with parents and some groups calling for the cancellation of some of the papers, especially English Language.

Commentators on the development, especially parents, blamed the mass failure on lapses on the part of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, regarding the time English Language exam was written by the candidates.

For instance, commentators on the platform of the Concerned Parents and Educators Network, CPE, called for the cancellation of the English Language paper and an inquest into why some candidates wrote the paper at night.

In a post on the CPE platform by Adegoke Bimpe Atoke, she wrote, “Almighty WAEC has done it again. The pregnancy of a few months ago has finally been birthed. Mass failure in Mathematics and English. 450 words essays written with phone torchlight at 10:30 pm under the rain, with candidates swatting mosquitoes. How did we arrive here?.

Our systems need drastic, strategic, urgent reforms. I can’t even eat. I have lost appetite.

Which way is the way forward?  If WAEC is not working and has lost relevance, can we have something else? A better mechanism that will address our context as a country?”

From Abiodun Adesanya Adeleke, she said, “The necessary body should help to do the needful. The English Language is supposed to be retaken with all the nonsense that happened on that day. Students writing exams till past 9:00pm with torch light and in mosquitoes infested classes. How do we call that a standardized exam.”

For Mr Adebayo Ifeoluwa, he noted, “Who is to blame? I am a teacher in one of the Lagos State Schools, exams started the right time and ended at the right time,when things like this happens,who should we blame? No exam is scheduled to be done at night,so who’s at fault. Thinking out loud.”

Another commentator, Rex Oscar asked, “Some people will still say it’s because the students didn’t read.  We know students didn’t read but you cannot tell me over 70% of our SS 3 students didn’t.  Even those who did very well in JAMB failed the English Language paper. The government needs to set up an inquest to probe this.”

Adetoun Aremu  suggested that English Language and Mathematics be rewritten, while Ifeoma Eucharia noted that despite what the candidates went through they still failed the English Language paper.

WAEC prevented cheating

However, it was gathered that WAEC took some steps that prevented cheating, especially in objective questions papers.

A source confided in our correspondent that some of the steps included serialization of the questions.

The method involved giving the candidates same questions but the questions would not fall into the same number.

“Question number one for a candidate may be the question number 20 for another candidate and so on. So, the era of reading out or copying the same answers was gone. Most of the candidates did not do well in the objective papers,” the source said.

Echoing a similar thing, the National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, opined,” “One may say the level of examination malpractice has gone down. But that is just one of the factors. Do we have the teachers that can deliver what is needed in the required number? Many states have refused to engage new teachers to fill vacancies. Also, some parents cannot afford to buy the necessary textbooks for the wards and children. The prices have gone out of reach.

“We need to also equip our schools properly. Teachers welfare is also critical. When a teacher is thinking of what to eat and how to meet basic needs, how can he give the best to the students? Parents also have to take more interest in the education of their children,” he said.

Recall that when the results were released on Monday, WAEC said out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

In the 2024 WASSCE, 72.12% of candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. This year’s results showed a significant decline in performance, with only 38.32% of candidates achieving the same feat.

The post Mass failure in WASSCE: Parents, group want papers cancelled appeared first on Vanguard News.