Communique’ Issued At The 60th NEC Meeting On 2015 WAEC Withheld Results

Communique’ Issued At The 60th NEC Meeting On 2015 WAEC Withheld Results

The 60th Meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), was held on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th November, 2015 at Excellence Hotel & Conference Centre, Ogba – Lagos.

The Committee, which meets twice a year, to consider matters related to the conduct of the May/June and November/December West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), is the highest decision-making organ of WAEC on examination-related matters in Nigeria.

Its statutory Chairman is the Director (Basic and Secondary Education), Federal Ministry of Education and Chief Federal Government Nominee on Council.

Membership of the Committee comprises four representatives each, of the State Ministries of Education and the Department of Education of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) and the Universities. It also includes the Registrar to Council, the Head of the Nigeria National Office, the Head of the Test Development Division (TDD) and the Head of the Test Administration Division (TAD) of the Council.

During the 60th Meeting, the Committee received reports on Special, Irregularity and Clemency Cases on the November/December 2014 WASSCE as well as Irregularity Cases arising from the conduct of the May/June 2015 WASSCE.

In the course of considering the various reported cases of malpractice, the Committee endorsed appropriate sanctions in all established cases of malpractice as prescribed by the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the Council’s examinations after diligent deliberations. It approved that the entire results of candidates involved in proven cases, which attract cancellation of entire results (CER) be cancelled, while subject results of those involved in proven cases which attract cancellation of subject results (CSR), be similarly cancelled.

In addition, some candidates would also suffer other sanctions such as barring them from sitting for the Council’s examinations for a certain number of years. Moreover, while some schools will be derecognised as examination centres for some years, other schools’ recognition as examination centres will be withdrawn making them unable to present candidates for WAEC examination. Also, indicted supervisors have been blacklisted while erring teachers and principals have been reported to their State Ministries of Education and ANCOPPS for disciplinary action. The decisions of the Committee will be implemented without delay and the affected candidates will be duly informed by the Council.

Furthermore, the Committee considered Special Cases, Clemency Cases, Late Cases, Impersonation Cases, Restitution, Petitions and Cases Referred for Further Investigation from previous examinations.

The Committee received a report on the Statistics of Entries and Results for the May/June 2015 WASSCE. In addition, it received and considered the General Résumé of the Chief Examiners’ Reports on the May/June 2015 WASSCE as well as reports on the activities of the Aptitude Tests Department (ATD), for the period May to October, 2015 ; and on the activities of the Research Department of the Council, for the period April to October, 2015.

With regard to the General Résumé of the Chief Examiners’ Reports on the May/ June 2015 WASSCE, the Committee noted the observations by the Chief Examiners that the quality and standard of the papers compared very well with those of the previous years. The questions were within the scope of the examination syllabuses. The rubrics were clearly stated and the marking schemes well prepared.

The Committee noted the observations in the Reports that while there were improvement in the performances of candidates, the reports of the Chief Examiners indicated that candidates’ performance varied from subject to subject as follows:

Candidates’ performance was said to be good in Shorthand; Financial Accounting; Commerce; Typewriting; Store keeping; Book Keeping; Office Practice; Store Management and Physics 2.

They noted in the Report that there was a significant improvement and or encouraging performance in English Language; French 2; Edo; Igbo; Ibibio; Government 2; Geography 2; Music 3A & B; Tourism 2; Mining 2; Painting & Decoration 2; Dyeing & Bleaching; Biology 3; Physical Education 3; Chemistry 2 & 3; Physics 2; Animal Husbandry 3; Fisheries 2; Electrical Installation & Maintenance Work 2; Air Conditioning & Refrigeration 2; Auto Body Repairs & Spray Painting 2 & 3; Automobile Parts Merchandizing 2; Block Laying, Bricklaying & Concrete Works 2; Building Construction 2; Furniture Making 2 & 3; Machine Wood Working 2 & 3; Metalwork 2; Printing Craft Practice 2 & 3; Technical Drawing 2 & 3; Welding & Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 2 & 3; Woodwork 2 and Geography 3.

On the other hand, there was no significant improvement in Hausa; Literature-in-English 3 and Mathematics 2.

Candidates’ performance was better in Further Mathematics 2 and GSM Phone Maintenance & Repairs. While there was average performances in Arabic; French 3; Literature-in-English 3; Economics 2; History 2; CRS 2; Visual Arts 2; Visual Arts 3A & B; Music 2; Civic Education 2; Photography 2 & 3; Leather Goods Manufacturing & Repairs 2; and Catering Craft Practice 2 & 3.

There was above average performance in Basic Electricity 2 & 3 while candidates’ performance was said to be very good in Cosmetology 2 & 3 as well as Garment Making 2 & 3.

Candidates’ performance was poor in Basic Electronics 2; Catering Craft Practice 3; Auto Mechanical Work; Auto Mechanics 2; Building Construction 3; Carpentry & Joinery 2 & 3; Metalwork; Plumbing & Pipe Fitting 2 & 3 and Woodwork 3.

Some of the strengths of candidates mentioned in the Reports included, good writing and spelling skills in Arabic 2; French 2; Edo; Efik; Yoruba and Biology 3; appreciable mastery of morphology and syntax in Arabic and BODMAS in Mathematics 2; improvement in dialogue essay pattern writing in Igbo; in-depth knowledge of set texts in Literature-in-English 2 & 3; correct usage of working materials/equipment in clothing & Textiles; Auto Body Repairs & Spray Painting 2 & 3 and Technical Drawing 2 & 3; good display of required skills in Shorthand and Typewriting; ability to sketch, identify, list and state functions of equipment in Basic Electricity 2; Auto Body Repair & Spray Painting 2 & 3; Auto Mechanics; Automobile Parts Merchandizing; Block Laying, Bricklaying and Concrete Works; Machine Woodworking 2 & 3; Metalwork 2 & 3; Technical Drawing 2 & 3; and Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 2 & 3; ability to explain terms in Physical Education 2; Store Management; Marketing 2; Fisheries 2; GSM Phone Maintenance & Repairs; Cosmetology 2; Garment Making 3; Auto mobile Parts Merchandizing; Block Laying, Bricklaying and Concrete Works and Plumbing and Pipe Fitting 2 &3; proper organisation of ideas in Islamic Studies; ability to draw objects, scale and interpret drawings and sketches in Building Construction 2 & 3; Furniture Making 2 & 3 and Plumbing and Pipe Fitting 2 & 3; ability to complete tables of values and calculate correlation coefficients in Mathematics 2 and Further Mathematics 2; adherence to rubrics in Islamic Studies; Edo; Igbo and Yoruba; good interpretation of questions in Basic Electricity; Foods & Nutrition; Home Management and Air-conditioning and Refrigeration.

General weaknesses of candidates in the various subjects as outlined in the Reports includes, poor command of language, indiscriminate lifting of portions of set passages as answers and use of text message abbreviations “u” for you in English Language; spelling errors in Islamic Studies; Igbo; Ibibio; Biology; Computer Studies 2; Foods and Nutrition; Catering Craft Practice 2 & 3; Cosmetology 2 & 3 and Garment Making 3; illegible handwriting as observed in Islamic Studies; Igbo; Yoruba; Literature-in-English 2; Commerce; Store Keeping; Office Practice; Store Management; Marketing; Insurance; Salesmanship and Computer Studies 2; poor punctuation in Efik; Ibibio and Yoruba. Violation of rubrics in French 2; Literature-in-English 2; Commerce; Store Keeping; Office Practice; Store Management; Marketing; Insurance; Salesmanship and Further Mathematics; poor mastery of English Language and other languages in Arabic; English Language; Islamic Studies; Efik; Igbo; Yoruba; Literature-in-English and Foods & Nutrition; poor knowledge of prescribed texts in Arabic; Igbo; Ibibio; Yoruba and Literature-in-English 2 & 3; misinterpretation of questions in Literature-in-English 2 & 3; Marketing; Health Education 2 and Catering Craft Practice 2& 3; inability to explain certain terms/poor knowledge of technical terms in Commerce; Book Keeping; Store Management; Marketing; Salesmanship; Fisheries 2; Electrical Installation; Computer Studies 2 & 3; Data Processing 2; Auto Electrical Works 2 & 3; GSM Phone Maintenance & Repairs; Clothing & Textiles; Catering Craft Practice 2& 3; Cosmetology 2 & 3; Auto Body Repairs & Spray Painting 2 & 3; Auto Mechanics; Block Laying, Bricklaying & Concrete Works; Building Construction 2 and Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 2; inability to correctly apply principles and input data in Mathematics 2 and Computer Studies 2; poor drawing/labelling/representation of diagrams in Biology 2 & 3; Animal Husbandry 2; Mathematics 2; Block Laying, Bricklaying & Concrete Works 2; Building Construction 3; Machine Woodworking 2; Plumbing and Pipe Fitting 2; Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 3 and Woodwork 2 & 3; inability to state functions of equipments in Radio, Television and Electronic Works 3; Auto Mechanics; Auto Mobile Parts Merchandizing; Block Laying, Bricklaying & Concrete Works 2; Building Construction 3 and Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 2; and poor technical proficiency and skills in Carpentry and Joinery 3; Machine Woodworking 3; Metalwork 3 and Welding and Fabrication Engineering Craft Practice 3 were additionally noted by the Committee.

The Committee took cognizance of the remedies suggested in the Reports which included that Candidates should:

(1) inculcate the habit of reading widely and solving practice
tests where necessary.

(2) procure and read relevant text books and novels in various
subject areas in order to develop their competences in
English Language and other languages.

(3) practise map drawing and labelling at their convenient time.

(4) read the rubrics carefully and ensure that they understand
the questions and requirements before attempting them.

Members also recognized from the Reports the following advice given to teachers in the résumé which included that teachers should:

(1) be encouraged to cover their subject syllabuses while
preparing candidates for the examination.

(2) be encouraged to participate in WASSCE Coordination and
Marking Exercise in order to acquire more experiences that
would benefit their students.

(3) equip their students better by giving them more class and
home works.

The Committee commended the States that have put effective measures in place to forestall the registration of external candidates for the May/June WASSCE in order to prevent examination malpractice.

The Committee suggested that State Ministries of Education should adopt the Chief Examiners’ Report as a resource material for the training of teachers in secondary schools. It also advised candidates preparing for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination to access the Report on the Council’s e-learning portal.

The Committee implored more State governments to take advantage of the training of secondary school teachers by the Council as have been done by Lagos State and FCT, Abuja in order to improve the performance of students in WAEC examinations.

Finally, during the meeting, the Committee also noted the report on how students are being examined on subjects that has no existing teachers or functional laboratories and equipment and called on Governments at various levels to address this anomaly.

Issued by the Public Affairs Department
Signed: Demianus Ojijeogu (Public Affairs Officer)
WAEC, Yaba, Lagos.
14th November, 2015