WAEC begins SSCE May 16, Sokoto, Zamfara govt schools present no candidates

Public schools in Sokoto and Zamfara states have not presented any candidate for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) scheduled to hold from May 16 to June 23.

Head of the Nigeria National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr Patrick  Areghan, disclosed this on Monday while addressing newsmen on the council’s preparations and readiness for the conduct of the examination in Nigeria.

Areghan said private schools in the states had registered their candidates for the examination, he however noted that “the reason why candidates from public schools were not registered remains unknown.”

He frowned on late registration of candidates, particularly by private schools, saying, such act remained totally unacceptable as it would delay preparations for the examination.

According to the HNO, over 1.6 million candidates from 20,221 schools have registered for the examination out of which 800,055 (49.76%) are males and 800,724, representing 50.24%, are females.

The candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers while about 30,000 practising senior teachers, nominated by various Ministries of Education, would be participating in the examination as supervisors.

Areghan explained that even though National Identification Number (NIN) was made a component of the registration process, it would not be a compulsory requirement in order not to disqualify many candidates.

He stated that no candidate was denied registration as a result of non-submission of NIN.

WAEC frowned on examination malpractice of any kind, threatening that penalties for involvement in any form of examination malpractice would be meted out to erring candidates, supervisors, schools as would be approved by the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC), the highest decision-making organ of the council in Nigeria.

It therefore called on parents and guardians to admonish their wards to study hard and desist from any form of examination malpractice.

It also warned supervisors to desist from aiding and abetting examination malpractice by assisting candidates.