The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that only 38.32% of candidates who took the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) received credit and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
In contrast to the 72.12% recorded in 2024, a 33.8% decline, this figure represents a significant performance drop.
Amos Dangut, the head of the WAEC’s Nigerian National Office, made the announcement at a press conference on Monday in Lagos that the 2025 results for school candidates would be released.
Out of the 1, 969, 313 exam-satimates, 1, 718, and 090, representing 87.24%, received credit and at least in any five subjects, with or without English language and/or mathematics, according to an analysis of the candidates’ performance in the examination.
However, only 754, 545 candidates, who make up 38.3%, received credit and above in at least five subjects, including mathematics and English.
“Of this number, 347, 192 (46.01%) were male candidates, while 407, 353 (53.99%) were female. In contrast to the key benchmark of 2024 WASSCE performance, a 33.8% decline was found in Dangut’s analysis of the candidate performance, which 72.12% of candidates achieved last year at the same level.
In total, 1, 969, 313 candidates took the test at 23, 554 recognized secondary schools in Nigeria.
12 178 candidates with special needs, including those who are visually and hearing impaired, were given full accommodations during the exams.
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The gender breakdown showed a fairly even split, with 976, 787 males (49.60%) and 992, 526 females (50.40%) participating.
Dangut praised the support of federal and state education ministries, security agencies, and other stakeholders for the success of the examination despite logistical difficulties and a paper that was delayed in a few locations.
He also cited WAEC’s practice of assigning candidates various versions of objective test questions as a deterrent to malpractice, which may have contributed to the performance decline.
The objective papers showed a slight but discernible decline, he said, while the performance in the essay papers remained comparable to that of previous years.
Additionally, 451, 796 candidates (29.94%) had one or more subjects still being processed due to issues pending resolution, while 451, 517, 517 candidates (77.06%) had their results fully processed and released.
Results for 192, 089 candidates (9. 75%) are being held back due to investigation into exam malpractice.
WAEC continued to raise concerns about organized cheating and mobile phone use despite not reporting a decline from the 11.92% recorded in 2024.
Following a partial deployment in 2025 for private candidates, WAEC reiterated its readiness for the full rollout of computer-based WASSCE in 2026.
The Council also urged indebted state governments to pay their debts in order for candidates to have access to their results by encouraging candidates to apply for their digital certificates, which will be made available within 48 hours of result release.
Source: Channels TV
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