Some candidates who sat for the April/May 2016 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) may have to wait for another year or more to see their dream of entering into a university become a reality.
This is because over 66% woefully failed to secure pass marks in all four core subjects – a key requirement for gaining admission into any of the legally recognized public and private universities in Ghana.
Any candidate who scores below C6 in the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies may not be admitted to any recognized university, except mature students.
A critical analysis of the provisional results released by the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) on Tuesday – which highlighted the results of candidates – points to a mass failure as most of them would not be given the chance to enter university to pursue further studies.
In the four core subjects, a total of 231,592 candidates sat for mathematics. Out of that number, 77,108 were reported to have obtained A1- C6; while 65,007 scored between D7 and E8, with 89,477 obtaining F9.
In the English Language, 125,065 candidates obtained A1 and C6; 59,725 obtained between D7 and E8 while 46,595 obtained F9. In all, 231,385 candidates sat for the English Language.
For Integrated Science, 75,938 candidates, according to WAEC, obtained between D7 and E8; 42,519 scored F9, while 113,933 had between A1 and C6 thus, making the total number of candidates who wrote the paper 232,390.
With regards to Social Studies, the provisional results indicated that about 53,824 scored between D7 and E8; 49,198 scored F9 and 129,058 obtained between A1 and C6.
A total of 274,262 students entered for the examination, representing a two percent rise over the figure for 2015 – which was 268,764.
The 2016 entry figure was made up of 141,524 (51.60 percent) males and 132,738 (48.40 percent) females.
To gain admission into any public or private university in the country which is accredited by the National Accreditation Board (NAB), a candidate is supposed to score a minimum of C6 as pass mark in any of the four core subjects.
Cancelations
Meanwhile, a statement announcing the release of the provisional results signed by the Public Relations Officer of WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said about 598 candidates had their “entire results cancelled.”
It said about 2,184 candidates had issues with their results.
The provisional results maintained that 2,293 candidates who were identified to have cheated in English Language, Mathematics and Integrated Science, had their “relevant subject results cancelled.”
This, the statement said, was made possible with the help of a software called Item Differentia Profile (IDP).
The 2016 examination was accordingly conducted for 897 participating schools
Meanwhile, the provisional results have indicated that the general performance for 2016 is a significant improvement over that of 2015.
BY Melvin Tarlue