1.5m candidates to write WASSCE

As body launches request management system, chatbox
About 1,573,789 million candidates are expected to participate in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) billed to hold between August 16 and October 8.

Head of Nigeria National Office, Patrick Areghan, who disclosed this to journalists, added that 19,425 recognised secondary schools, comprising 8,052 public and 11,373 private schools, across the 36 states will be participating in the examination.

Of the figure, 792,620 are males with 50.36 per cent, while 781,169 are females with 49.64 per cent.

Areghan said candidates will be examined in 76 subjects, made up of 197 papers, while about 25,000 senior teachers will serve as supervisors.

He added that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a disruption of the academic calendar in the West African sub-region.

His words: “The final International timetable was drawn to cater for the interests of all the five-member countries. The timetable was specifically drawn to align with Nigeria’s emergency academic calendar and also in deference to the specific request made by the Federal Ministry of Education. These two factors formed the basis of our input into the drafting and finalisation of the international timetable by WAEC headquarters, Accra, Ghana.”