Candidates who took this year’s May–June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and whose results have just been released can now begin to print out the digital copies of their certificates along with their statement of results until three months later when the same will be sent as hard copies to their respective schools for collection, according to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Mr. Patrick Areghan, the head of WAEC Nigeria’s national office, disclosed this information at a news conference held at the council’s Lagos headquarters to announce the release of the results.
A total of 1,613,733 applicants took the exam, and 1,287,920 of them (representing 79.81%) received credits or above in at least five required topics, including English Language and Mathematics. This is a slight improvement from the 76.36% score from the previous year.
A total of 262,803 additional candidates (representing 16. 29% of the total number of candidates) have their results withheld for investigation over alleged cases of exam malpractice during the exam, in addition to the candidates from the eight states, including Niger, that are indebted to WAEC and whose results are being withheld.
Areghan continued by saying that WAEC developed copies of digital certificates for the first time in its 71-year existence in order to modernize its procedures and make them more user-friendly.
In describing the procedure, he stated that all that was needed for candidates to finish the process was for them to log onto the council’s website, shown as www.waec.org, using information from their Smart Identity Cards that they used during the exam.
Although there would be a little price involved, he said that candidates may use the same procedure to share their certificates with organizations online and have those certifications confirmed or approved by any organization.
Areghan pointed out that candidates would undoubtedly be satisfied and choose to adopt the new way because it not only saves time, is economical, and easy, but it will also spare them from the dangers and stress related to countrywide road travel.
He claimed that candidates could quickly process the same online from anywhere in the world with digital certificates, eliminating the requirement for them to travel to their schools to pick up the hardcopies or doing so at a convenient moment.
