A total of 503,275 candidates out of 1.8 million that sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) failed English Language and Mathematics.
The council's Head of Nigeria Office, Amos Dangut, disclosed this on Monday in a statement announcing the release of the 2024 WASSCE result.
He said out of the 1,805,216 that sat for the examination, only 1,301,941 candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English language and mathematics.
He stressed that 1,301,941 candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English language and mathematics at 72.12 per cent, revealing a 7.69 per cent drop in performance compared to 79.81 per cent recorded in 2023.
"The analysis of statistics of candidates' performance in the examination shows that out of the 1,805,216 candidates that sat the examination, 1,332,089 candidates, representing 73.79%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects (i.e. with or without English Language and/or Mathematics).
"A total of 1,301,941 candidates, representing 72.12%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. Of this number, 628,820 i.e. 48.30% were male candidates, while 673,121 i.e. 51.70% were female candidates.
"A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2023 and 2024, reveals that in this year's (2024) WASSCE, there is 7.69% decrease in performance (that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 79.81%)," he said.
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He revealed that the results of 215,267 candidates who sat for the 2024 WASSCE have been withheld due to examination malpractices.
Dr. Dangut disclosed at the media briefing that the withheld results totaled 11.92 per cent of the total 1,805, 216 candidates that sat for the exams.
He added that the figure of the withheld results was 4.37 percent lower than the 16.29 per cent recorded last year, and assured on the release of the withheld results after thorough investigation.
"The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools are other nagging issues. All the cases are being investigated, and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the council for consideration and final decision.
"The committee's decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools in due course. Candidates affected by these decisions can now call for redress of their malpractice cases if they so wish," he said.
He expressed displeasure over the schools, supervisors, teachers and candidates who were complicit in examination malpractices, saying they would face the wrath of the law.
"The council will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice as schools, supervisors, teachers and candidates perpetrating this evil are not helping the educational system. All hands must therefore be on deck to sanitise the system," he stated.
