The 2025 WAEC crisis sent shockwaves through West Africa’s education sector, exposing deep-rooted challenges in examination management, logistics, and digital infrastructure.

Following the resolution of the crisis that arose from the release of the 2025 WASSCE, it is important to understand how WAEC will move on from here.

WAEC, on Friday, August 8, disclosed that the council discovered some discrepancies in the grading of serialised papers, after announcing the 2025 WASSCE results with observable performance decline.

Amos Dangut, head of national office at WAEC, Nigeria, explained that the council investigated all the serialised papers such as Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics Objective Papers, and discovered a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which resulted in them being scored with wrong keys.

“The observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation,” he said in part.

Jessica Osuere, chief executive officer of RubiesHub Educational Services, said that everything that happened recently from WAEC pointed to a deep-rooted rot in the system.

Osuere emphasised that those leakages came from within the system, noting that WAEC is a regional examination and only Nigeria was involved in the leak, but in Nigeria, students were made to write some papers at night as if it is a secret mission, and suddenly the national pass rate jumps from 39 percent to 69 percent.

“WAEC owes Nigerians an explanation on why the Council released the results knowing full well there was mass failure, only to now review after they had caused panic and trauma to students and parents.

“This didn’t have to happen at all. Encrypted question delivery, last-minute printing, multiple paper versions, and serious insider checks could have saved us the drama. Instead, one of our biggest national examinations looked like a thriller movie,” she said.

Speaking on the pass rate leap, she said, “l think WAEC simply upgraded results, knowing full well they goofed on all fronts.”

Osuere said the way forward is for the council to adopt a tech-proof system, ensure that the insiders involved in the leak are punished publicly, and stop treating exam security as an afterthought. “Otherwise, every result release will come with a side of suspicion,” she noted.

Gift Osikoya, a teacher, blamed WAEC for failing to employ preventive measures to avoid paper leakage and the subsequent night examination.

She said that according to reports, the English Language paper leak occurred days before the exam, allegedly due to insufficient safeguards during printing and distribution.

Osikoya reiterated that there should have been stronger security protocols around printing and distribution.

“Investigators discovered a syndicate operating via WhatsApp and Telegram, charging students to access the leaked paper, even up to N4,000 per candidate.

“Strict tracking during printing, packaging, and delivery, for instance, tamper-evident seals, authorised couriers, GPS monitoring, could have limited unauthorised access,” she said.

Moreover, she emphasised that there should have been in place a multi-source cross-checking and quick response units to curb such occurrences.

“WAEC did reprint papers quickly after discovering the leak, but better proactive internal auditing and rapid task force deployment could have avoided delays and aided swift mitigation.

“If these measures were proactively systemic, the English paper leak, and the ensuing chaos, including students writing into the night by torchlight, might have been prevented,” she noted.

Speaking on the leap in the pass rate after the reviewed results, Osikoya said that during the internal review, WAEC uncovered a serious error resulting from incorrectly assigned answer key files for serialised objective papers, particularly the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3), leading to widespread mis-grading.

Nevertheless, she said that WAEC did take a meaningful step by owning the error and revising results, with an apology, the Council restored some credibility.

“However, a nearly 25 percentage point drop from the previous year still signals systemic challenges,” she said.

Osikoya said the way forward was a public inquiry and accountability, and that the Council should revisit the grading of affected students and psychological support for students.

“WAEC should launch a transparent investigation into the leak and the marking error. Those responsible, if found, must be held accountable to rebuild trust.

“Ensure that anyone unfairly impacted has recourse and that results are accurately validated, and address the trauma of students who endured harrowing exam conditions, some wrote well into the night under torchlight, rain, and mosquito-infested halls,” she said.

To avoid a recurrence, Adeola Eze enjoined examination bodies to ensure rigorous pre-release testing, simulate the release of results under real-world conditions to identify and resolve technical failures before candidates are notified.

“When errors do occur, there must be transparent errata protocols, providing formal ‘result correction notices’ that clearly explain the problem, detail the fix, and reassure candidates that the correction is final,” Eze said.

However, stakeholders believe that a viable medium and long-term reforms approach should be for WAEC to implement computer-based tests (CBT) where feasible, and reduce reliance on paper exams to enhance security and fairness.

Besides, they say the council should strengthen logistics and infrastructure to guarantee timely distribution, adequate power supply, and better supervision, especially in rural or under-resourced areas.

Osikoya emphasised the need for teacher and examiner training. “This will boost capacity through regular professional development to minimise human errors in marking or handling serialised codes,” she noted. (BusinessDay)