The results of 179 candidates who sat for the 2021 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have been cancelled by the West African Examinations Council due to examination malpractices.
Similarly 1,339 subject results have been cancelled for various offences, a statement issued and signed yesterday in Accra by the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, and copied to the Ghanaian Times has said
The council mentioned the various malpractices as bringing foreign materials, including mobile phones into the examination hall, tearing off parts of question papers and collusion.
A total of 446,352 candidates made up of 221,439 males and 224,913 females representing 49.6 per cent and 50.4 per cent respectively from 965 schools entered for the examination.
The statement said the figure is 18.8 per cent higher than the 2020 figure of 375,763, adding that, “A total of 3,545 representing 0.79 per cent of the candidates who registered were absent from the emanation.
According to the statement, the entire results of 3,667 candidates have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into the various cases of examination malpractices detected during and after the examinations.
It added that the withheld results might be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations.
The statement also said scripts of candidates from 194 schools in certain subjects have also been withheld and are being scrutinised.
According to the statements, there were improvements in the performance of candidates this year at grades A1 to C6 in Integrated Science and Social Studies as compared to that of last year.
English language and Mathematics (core) recorded a decline in the performance of candidates at grades A1 to C6 as compared to 2020.
The statement said out of 446, 352 candidates who sat for the examination, 241,521.07 passed in Mathematics, representing 54.11 per cent as against 65.71 per cent. This also represented 11.6 per cent lower than that of last year.
Also, in English language, 241, 381.16, passed the paper, representing 54.08 per cent as compared to 57.34 per cent last year.
For Integrated Science, 293,253.264 passed, representing 65.70 per cent while a total of 294,726.2256 passed in social studies which represented 66.03 per cent.
According to the statement, 45, 526 had E8 while 88,631 scored F9 in mathematics, in English, 39,760 scored E8 while 61,778 had F9.
In Integrated Science, 41, 686 had E8, and 64,184 scored F9 while in Social Studies, 33, 671 scored E8 while 64, 184scored F9.
The council expressed its gratitude to all its stakeholders for their co-operation during the conduct of the examination and release of results.