Conrad Sackey, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) has announced that, 34,525 results are withheld, ranking it the highest ever, which demonstrates the unabated efforts of the MBSSE and West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to eradicate examination malpractices.
The announcement of 2023 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results was made on 2nd October 2023.
The Minister told the public that his ministry is aware of concerns about the integrity of our examinations and is working tirelessly with WAEC and other agencies to eradicate examination malpractices. In this regard, he assured that the public will be informed of actions taken against individuals and entities found to have been involved in malpractices in the 2023 WASSCE.
Minister Sackey continued that this year’s WASSCE is the highest candidate entry that totaled to 243,202, noting that the entry was even higher than the 163,860 entries for the 2023 NPSE and the 206,874 entries for the 2022 WASSCE.
Giving further details he said the results for the 2023 May/June WASSCE for school candidates which was released to MBSSE on Friday 29 September 2023, 243,202 candidates from 888 schools in Sierra Leone entered for the May/June WASSCE in 2023.
He however said the results for 28 private schools, that are owing WAEC, were not in the list sent to the MBSSE which contained just 230,973 names from 860 schools. He said only 191,077 candidates on the list released to the MBSSE sat at least one subject/paper, 33,238 were without results as their results have been withheld, whilst another 6,658 had no results as they were absent for all subjects.
He assured that the released results will be distributed to schools that day, 2nd October.
Making Key highlights, he said of the 230,973 candidates on the results received by the MBSEE, 121,324 were female and 109,649 were male i.e., 52.5% were female, say this continues the trend of more female than male candidate entries for WASSCE
Furthermore, he said of the 191,077 candidates that sat at least one subject and whose results have been released, 101,222 (53%) were female and 89,855 were male. He said a total of 1,630,980 subject papers were sat by the 191,077 candidates that sat at least 1 subject; 1,346,855 passes were recorded giving a pass rate of 83%; and that given the pass rates in 2021 and 2022 were 64% and 77%, but this year’s pass rate is the highest ever.
He continued that the number of students obtained the benchmark minimum of 5 credits in a single sitting is the highest ever.
“From 113,824 in 2022, it has moved to 137,796 in 2023 even with a large number of results still withheld. The breakdown shows that 551 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects but did not obtain a credit in English Language or Mathematics, 233 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including English Language but did not obtain a credit in Mathematics, 105,924 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including Mathematics but did not obtain a credit in English Language, 31,088 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including Mathematics and English Language. 13,688 candidates have 3 credits whilst another 26,128 candidates have 4 credits – these candidates would qualify for entry to some post-secondary certificate and diploma programmes,” he explained.
He said that two candidates shared top position in the 2023 WASSCE results released to the MBSSE: one is a female and the other is a male. They are both from the same school.
He explained that their school of entry was Providence International Senior High School. Both sat 9 subjects. They obtained 8 A1s (excellent) and 1 B2 (very good). Their average grade/unit was 1.11 (excellent). 16 of the candidates with released results in 2023 have better average grades than the best average grade obtained in 2022. He revealed that the best performing school, Providence International Senior High School, had the results for 185 of its candidates released; and All 185 candidates (100%) obtained a credit or better in a minimum of 5 subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
He added that the number of candidates achieving direct university undergraduate degree programme entry requirements by obtaining 5 credits including a credit in English Language and/or Mathematics in a single sitting is at 137,245, even higher than the 108,418 of 2022. He noted that as it has been reached even with the withholding of 34,525 results which, if and when released, could result in even more candidates meeting the university entrance requirements.
On district performance, he said is better in 2023 than in 2022, with the average grade for all districts being in the range of 5 to 6 i.e. credit grade range.
“The best performing district had 79.4% of its candidates, whose results have been released, with credits or better in 5 or more subjects including English Language and/or Mathematics. 11 out of the 16 districts had over 90% of their candidates, whose results have been released, with a minimum of 3 credits in subjects sat,” he explained.
By Alieu Amara Suwu
