The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Monday in Lagos revealed that a total of 1,959,639 candidates in 24,207 secondary schools nationwide registered for the ongoing May/June 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

However, only about 450 schools (representing 1.9% of the total) against 40 recorded last year nationwide opted to sit the exam in computer-based format while the remaining schools preferred the traditional pen-and-paper mode.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos on the school-based exam, the Head of National Office (HNO), WAEC Nigeria, Dr Amos Dangut, said the new innovation introduced by the council to the exam since last year is that two candidates would not have the same sequence numbers on their question papers, a development that would prevent candidates from copying each other.

He disclosed that the exam had already started on Tuesday, April 21 with the practicals, and would end on Friday, June 19, spanning eight weeks and three days.

He announced that out of the total 1,959,639 candidates who registered for the exam, 958,564 (representing 48.92%) are male while 1,001,072, which is 51.08%, are female, an indication that shows an “increase in female participation and decline in male participation this year.”

The HNO explained further that the candidates would be examined in 37 subjects, comprising 97 papers, while a total of 29,000 senior secondary school teachers, nominated by various ministries of education, would participate in the examination as supervisors.

He noted that “The council is in strong collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, various state ministries of education, the Nigeria Police Force, other security agencies and stakeholders with a view to delivering an hitch-free and credible examination.

He added that necessary measures had been put in place to forestall a repeat of last year’s crisis, where some students wrote their English language paper in the odd hours of the day.

On security, the HNO said the council cannot feign ignorance of the level of insecurity in the country and noted that several incidents had been recorded across the country during the conduct of WASSCE in the past, and therefore had strengthened collaboration with security agents across the country.

Dangut confirmed that the results of the school examination would be released 45 days after the last paper and that the candidates would be able to collect hardcopies of their certificates from their schools 90 days after, while digital certificates would also be available.

He, however, warned candidates, exam supervisors and invigilators as well as parents not to engage in exam malpractice, as anyone caught would be “decisively dealt with” according to the law.

He wished the candidates success in the exam. (TRIBUNE)