The results of the 2022 – first series West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates, recently released by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), has raised concerns. The acting head public relations of the examination body Mrs Moyosoloa Adeyegbe said that 1,886 candidates, representing 26.32 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English and Mathematics. Compared to the previous years’ result in the private candidates’ category, there is a decrease in performance, and compared to the secondary school candidates’ result of last year, the result can be termed woeful.

The public relations officer stated: “Of this number, 917, which represents 48.62 per cent were male candidates, while 969, representing 51.38 per cent were female candidates. The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for private candidates, 2020 and 2021, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, were 32.23 per cent and 30.11 per cent respectively. Thus, there is a marginal decrease of 3.79 per cent in performance in this regard.”

Mrs Adeyegbe further said that over 2,830 candidates representing 39.56 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English Language and/or Mathematics. She also said the results of 347 candidates (4.84 per cent) were being withheld for various reported cases of examination malpractice. Also, that 7,334 candidates (4.85 per cent decline, when compared with the 2021 entry figure) entered for the examination, while 7,166 candidates sat for the examination at 237 centres spread nationwide.

From the above data, with 2,830 candidates obtaining five credits with or without English and/or Mathematics out of 7,334 candidates, only about 39.56 per cent passed the examination. Compared to the 2020/21 May/June WASSCE school examination, the difference is quite significant. In the school examination, according to the Head of National Office (HNO), Patrick Areghan, “a total of 1,003,668 candidates, representing 65.24% of the total number of candidates that sat for the exam, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.”

A throw back shows that a total number of 923,486 school candidates, out of 1,559,162 who sat for the 2017 West African Senior School Certificate Examination obtained credit passes in Mathematics and English. According to WAEC, the figure, which represents 59.22 per cent, is an improvement on the percentage of school candidates who obtained credit passes in Mathematics and English in the 2015 and 2016 diets of the examination. The data showed that while 38.68 per cent obtained credit passes in Maths and English in 2015, the percentage for 2016 was 52.97 per cent.

So, compared to school certificate examinations, the private candidates do poorly. While the responsibility of preparing for the examination is that of the private candidates, it is still important for education bodies to understudy the reasons for the poor performance. We recall that before the recent improvement in school examinations, the performance was very poor, resulting in public outcry. While complaining about the private candidates is not to encourage the reduction in the quality of the examinations, it however helps to bring the trend to the notice of stakeholders.

There is also the trend for students of SS2 in secondary schools to take private candidates examination, when they have not covered the WAEC syllabus. Perhaps such trend contributes to the poor performance of the students in the private examination. There is also the unsubstantiated claim that the private examinations are tougher than the school candidates’ examination. While we do not expect WAEC to scale down their syllabus for the private candidates, we urge them to research the trend and causes.

The discrepancies between private and school candidates reflects a social trend in the nation’s exam profile. The private candidate is less likely to undergo proper grooming for the examinations, and they are often not ready for it since they are in SS2 and using it as dress rehearsal for the real one. Some who take part in it do not undergo the normal rigour and discipline of a school in preparing for an examination.

Consequently, the percentage will fall in comparison to the school candidates and give a false impression of the state of students performance and brilliance at that level of the examinations. Some older students who have left school for a while and gone to work may return without the agility of mind expected for the examinations.

It is a problem that requires proper study, and it is time to give it another look.