- 50% eligible for admission
Gabriel Dike
Out of the 1, 572, 396 candidates who sat for the May/ June 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), 786, 380 failed to obtain five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Such candidates may have been ruled out of the forthcoming admissions which starts on July 17.
Release of the results is not unconnected with the decision of a policy meeting on admissions held with heads of tertiary institutions, in Gbongan, Osun State, last week.
In comparison, WAEC disclosed that in 2017 WASSCE, 59.22 per cent and 52.97 per cent in 2016 obtained five credits including English Language and Mathematics.
The 786, 380 candidates, who represent 50.02 per cent of the 1, 572, 396 didn’t obtain either English Language or Mathematics.
WAEC Head of National Office (HNO), Mr. Olu Adenipekun, while announcing the release of the examination, said only 786,016 candidates obtained five credits including English Language and Mathematics. According to the HNO, of the 1.5 million candidates who sat for the exam, 823, 424 (52.36 per cent) were male and 748, 972 47 (63 per cent) were female.
The WAEC boss said 1, 470, 338 candidates (93.51per cent) had their results fully processed and released while 102, 058 (6.49 per cent) are also being processed due to errors traceable to candidates.
He further stressed that 1, 213, 244 candidates (76.84 per cent) made credit and above in five subjects, without English Language and Mathematics. Adenipekun disclosed that 858, 424 candidates (54.59 per cent) obtained credits and above in five subjects, including English Language but without Mathematics.
The HNO further stated that of the category of candidates who made five credits, including English Language and Mathematics, 389,655 were male and 396,361 were female candidates.
The council did not, however, disclose the number of withheld results as the HNO acknowledged that there were cases of malpractice but the rate was not different from previous exams.