Students, parents, educationists, and stakeholders in the education sector have criticized the review of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results by the management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

The examination body had on Monday released the results which were widely regarded as the worst in 10 years. Only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

Daily Trust learned that this year’s results have triggered a flood of complaints from relevant bodies in the education sector, largely due to the mass failure in the English Language subject, which appeared to prompt the examination body to conduct a review.

In a statement, however, the examination body attributed the review to what it described as “technical glitches” encountered in the four subjects conducted with a paper serialization approach aimed at curbing examination malpractice.

“As part of our efforts to curb examination malpractice, the Council embarked on an innovation (paper serialization) already deployed by a national examination body. It is also worth noting that this is in line with best practices in assessment. The paper serialization was carried out in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics. However, an internal post-result release procedure revealed some technical bugs in the results,” the statement read.

The council stressed that these technical glitches led to a situation where result-checkers could not access the portal to check their results. It assured them that the challenges would be resolved within the next 24 hours (today). The council also advised candidates who had previously checked their results to recheck them.

“The Council, being a responsive body that is sensitive to fairness and professionalism, has decided to urgently review and correct the technical glitches that led to the situation. As a result, access to the WASSCE (SC) 2025 results has been temporarily denied on the result checker portal. We extend our deep and sincere apologies to all affected candidates and the general public. We appreciate their patience and understanding as we work diligently to resolve this matter with transparency and urgency within the next twenty-four (24) hours. On this note, candidates who have previously checked their results are advised to re-check them after 24 hours from now. WAEC remains committed to upholding excellence, fairness, and transparency in all our assessment processes,” the statement read.

Education ministry confirms WAEC result glitch

The Federal Ministry of Education confirmed that a technical glitch occurred and commended the West African Examinations Council for its “swift response, transparency, and professionalism in resolving the glitch,” which affected the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results.

It added that the updated results will be accessible via the result checker portal within the next 24 hours. The ministry, however, assured the public of its commitment to maintaining the integrity of national examinations.

In a press release, the ministry said the issue, which emerged during post-release processing of results—particularly in subjects where paper serialization was introduced—has been addressed following a full briefing of the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa.

The statement also acknowledged the patience of affected candidates and emphasized the ministry’s “continued pursuit of fairness and credibility in assessment processes.”

This incident, the ministry noted, aligns with the minister’s broader reform agenda, which places examination integrity at the core of education policy.

“As part of this agenda, WAEC and the National Examinations Council (NECO) will begin a phased rollout of Computer-Based Testing (CBT) starting in November 2026, beginning with objective components. The adoption of CBT represents a critical step toward curbing malpractice, preventing question leakages, and restoring public trust in the examination system. It is a necessary reform to ensure Nigerian students are assessed strictly on merit and that their certificates retain credibility both locally and internationally,” the statement read.

The ministry reaffirmed its commitment to working with WAEC, NECO, and other stakeholders to build an assessment system that reflects the true abilities of Nigerian students and strengthens public confidence in the nation’s education framework.

A parent, Mr. Samuel Ese, criticized the decision to review the results, calling it the “dumbest move” driven by complaints of mass failure. He urged parents to guide their children to study and not to cheat or depend on favoritism to pass examinations.

“Those who have failed have failed. They should go back and rewrite the exams if they have failed, not look for ways to review results to favor those who have connections,” he said. “Such a decision is one of the dumbest moves to review the results; it means that the government is one of the problems we have in the educational sector. Parents should work on their children, allow your children to study, and don’t encourage your children to cheat in order to succeed.”

Another parent, Mrs. Benedicta Gospel, said the idea of reviewing the results because of mass failure is not the best way to tackle educational deficiencies. Instead, she said, the government should work on ways to strengthen the educational system.

She said that if the mistake is not from the examination body, candidates should be encouraged to prepare properly and rewrite the exams next year.

“Why is it called an examination? It is so because if you don’t pass, you can prepare to rewrite next time and pass and not think of reviewing the results to favor anybody. Our educational system should be strengthened, our secondary education should be given attention, and quality teachers should be employed to properly guide our children. If these are done, they will pass external exams,” she said.

Another parent, Mallam Aminu Ahmad of Area 11, Abuja, expressed optimism, saying he remains calm about the review process.

“My only hope and prayer is that Allah makes it a successful and hitch-free process. Even if they eventually review it, my daughter and I believe her results will remain unchanged. She scored A’s and B’s, and they’re going to stay that way,” he said. “Again, may the process be just and fair to all the students.”

Hajiya Fauziyya, another parent, expressed concerns over the timing and necessity of the decision to review the results, saying her child’s results must not be affected.

“I think something must be wrong with WAEC. They should not try that thing, it’s bad and ill-timed. My daughter had A’s in her result, so now what are they even saying? I don’t know how much I spent on her education. You know it’s a private school; we pay for everything,” she said.

According to Abubakar Adamu, a father of one of the students that sat for this year’s WAEC, his son passed the examination with flying colors. He said his fear is that the review shouldn’t affect those who have already met the requirements for university admission.

My son has eight credits and one pass. I have no problem if the examination council decides to review the results; the only issue is that those that have made it shouldn’t be negatively affected,” he said.

Students shift focus to NECO results

Some of the students who sat for both WASSCE and National Examination Council (NECO) have shifted their hopes to favorable results from their NECO exams.

Mallam Shehu Bello Kawo, a father of one of the students, said that even though his son failed, the decision of the examination council to review the results should be conducted with caution, adding that as a credible body, such issues shouldn’t be happening. He added that his son also sat for NECO and is hopeful that those results will not be as bad as the WAEC results.

For Aminu Sama’ila Hotoro, a student who sat for this year’s WAEC, the decision to review the result is a welcome idea. He added that while many students in Kano State did not sit for WAEC because the state government had paid for the NECO examinations, there is a need for WAEC to reconsider the results, which he said were the worst in the history of the council.

Stakeholders weigh in

Dr. Kayode Adeyemi, the National Secretary of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), condemned the results released by the examination body, saying many of their members have lodged complaints.

“We are not pleased with the matter of WAEC. Quite a number of our students’ results were not okay, particularly the English Language that was written at night. Many of our students have A1 in eight subjects but failed English. I believe it is the lodging of complaints and the uproar that has made them do a review, but they should have done the review before rushing to the public to release the result,” he said.

Adebayo Alomaja, the founder of Easy-Digi, an educational consulting firm, asked the examination body to explain the term “technical glitches,” citing the JAMB experience and saying many network connectivity issues are at the mercy of cybercrimes.

“It is not a problem if there is a technical issue, but WAEC is an exam that does not happen every month and there is supposed to be a lot of preparation for that. It is important for WAEC to come and tell us what really happened. What we know is that WAEC has suspended their website. Was it hacked? This year, banks have been hacked; we need to know what the issue is. As for the exam experience, the day the students wrote English, it was a bad experience that calls for retrospection. This examination is gradually losing its value,” he said.

Tobi Kareem, a tutorial owner, frowned over the results, saying the hopes of many students who scored A1 in many subjects have been cut short because of their failure in the English Language.

“I have students who wrote JAMB this year and at the same time they wrote WAEC. Looking at it, many failed English Language. We know without English and Mathematics, which happen to be the most important subjects, admission is not guaranteed. Imagine students have 4 A1s, B without F9. What happened is just like a pandemic. Many complaints have been lodged with the Federal and state governments and WAEC. What we heard at the moment is that there is a technical glitch and they will resolve it and it won’t affect many of the students. (Daily Trust)