Exams for WAEC start on August 16th

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced yesterday that the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) will be held in 2021 for school candidates.

The examination will run from August 16 to October 8, 2021, across the council’s sub-region, and will conclude on September 30, 2021, in Nigeria, for a total of seven weeks.

Mr. Patrick Areghan, the Head of National Office (HNO), told journalists at a press conference in Lagos to launch its request management system and WAEC –ChatBot, that the National Identification Number (NIN) would become a major requirement for registration for the examination starting in 2022 and subsequent years.

“All prospective candidates must register with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and obtain a National Identification Number (NIN). This is in accordance with the federal government’s policy, as directed by the Federal Ministry of Education, that “no NIN, no entry.”

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Areghan provided data on the number of students who would take the exam.

He said a total of 1,573,789 candidates were presented for the examination by 19,425 recognized secondary schools across the country, including the FCT, with 792,620 males (50.36%) and 781,169 females (49.64%).

He stated that candidates would be tested in 76 subjects with 197 papers, and that about 25,000 senior teachers would serve as supervisors for the examination.

Areghan expressed concern about the upcoming examination in August.

instead of the usual May/June, and also after some other national examinations had taken place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has thrown the academic calendar in the West African sub-region into disarray.

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“The final international timetable was thus drawn in such a way to cater for the interests of all five-member countries,” he says. The timetable was created in accordance with Nigeria’s emergency academic calendar and in response to a request from the Federal Ministry of Education.

“These two factors served as the foundation for our contributions to WAEC headquarters in Accra, Ghana, in the drafting and finalization of the international timetable.”

The HNO emphasized the country’s security situation as well as the need to find a way to protect the examinations, stating that the council is in contact with the relevant security agencies.