WAEC Releases Corrected 2025 WASSCE Results, Apologises for Grading Errors
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, has issued revised results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, after uncovering serious grading errors that distorted performance outcomes.
At a press briefing on Friday at WAEC’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, the Head of WAEC Nigeria, Dr. Amos Dangut, acknowledged that a significant error in the marking of serialised examination papers led to incorrect scores and a false representation of candidates’ performance.
“With deep regret and on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management, and Staff, I apologise for the discrepancies caused by this error. It is deeply embarrassing,” Dangut stated.
He explained that the council had introduced a new exam security feature — paper serialisation — already in use by another exam body. However, a technical mishap occurred when a wrong serialised code file was used to mark the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3), leading to the use of incorrect answer keys.
Other subjects affected by serialisation included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics. The issue did not affect candidates who took the exams via the computer-based testing (CBT) mode.
Following the correction of the error, 1,794,821 candidates (91.14%) earned credit and above in at least five subjects (with or without English and Mathematics).
More importantly, 1,239,884 candidates (62.96%) secured five credits including English and Mathematics — a substantial improvement from the initially reported 38.32%. Of these, 53.05% were female (657,819), and 46.95% were male (582,065).
Despite the correction, the 2025 performance still marks a decline of 9.16% compared to 2024’s pass rate of 72.12%.
In total, 1,969,313 candidates took the exam, including students from schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, which operate under the Nigerian curriculum.
WAEC also processed and released results for 12,178 special needs candidates, including those with visual (112), hearing (615), and physical impairments (37), as well as spastic/mentally challenged candidates (52).
Of the total candidates, 1,763,470 (89.55%) had their results fully processed and released, while 205,916 (10.45%) still have one or more subjects pending due to technical issues. WAEC assured the public that efforts are underway to finalise these.
Meanwhile, results for 191,053 candidates (9.7%) have been withheld over allegations of examination malpractice — a slight improvement from 11.92% in 2024. Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates may file complaints via waecinternational.org/complaints.
Dr. Dangut urged all stakeholders to work together in fighting malpractice, saying, “WAEC will continue to uphold discipline and integrity in our examination system.”
Candidates can access their results through www.waecdirect.org, and apply for digital certificates, available within 48 hours of verification. Physical certificates will be ready within 90 days.
However, candidates sponsored by state governments with outstanding debts will not be able to view their results until payments are made. Dangut appealed to such authorities to settle their obligations promptly.
He concluded with a heartfelt apology: “We recognise the emotional stress this situation has caused candidates, parents, schools, and stakeholders. WAEC is doing all it can to ensure this never happens again. We appreciate the support of the Federal Ministry of Education and our partners as we resolve this issue.”
PunchNews
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