Monrovia- November 14,2020: The Head of the WEAC- Liberia, Dale Gbotoe, yesterday released this year West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for senior secondary School Candidates. The exam was administered to 39,623 candidates senior students. Three female and five male students outperformed in the exam that saw over 50% students passing in this year exam.

Here are the details below:

1. PERIOD OF THE EXAMINATION

The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2020 was administered leakage-free from Monday, August 17 to Wednesday, September 2, 2020, at 304 Examination Centers as follows:

2. WITHHELD RESULTS (IRREGULARITY CASES& INDEBTEDNESS)

Although the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2020 was administered leakage-free at 304 Examination Centers in Liberia, there were some forms of Examination Malpractice that were detected and reported from the examination centers and marking venues. These incidences of examination malpractice involved some candidatesand non-candidates (teachers or school administrators) who were either directly or indirectly involved with the administration process as follows:

• Irregularity Cases Involving Candidates

The entire results for seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty-two (7, 962) candidates representing 20.28%of the thirty-nine thousand, two hundred and sixty-three (39,263) candidates who sat the examination are being withheld pending the final decision of the Liberia Examinations Committee for either their alleged involvement in some forms of Examination Malpractice or because of their school’s indebtedness to WAEC for the WAEC Customized Mathematical Sets (CMS).

The 7, 962 candidates have been placed into two categories as follows:

• Irregularity Involving Individual Candidates

Three hundred and ninety-five (395) candidates representing 4.96% of the seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty-two (7,962) candidates whose results are being withheld were involved in four types of Examination Malpractice as follows:

* These four candidates who either insulted or assaulted Examination Workers will have their results withheld pending cancellation by the appropriate Committee of Council.  They will also be barred from taking any examination conducted by the Council for the next twoyears. The four candidates and their institutions are:

• Withheld Results Involving all Candidates of a School
• Collusion

Eighty (80)schools from ten (10) counties with six thousand, six hundred and sixty-eight (6,668) candidates representing 83.75% of the seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty-two (7, 962) candidates whose results are being withheld were allegedly involved in Collusion as follows:

• Irregularity Involving School Administrator

One (1) school with seventy-eight (78) candidates representing 0.98% of the seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty-two (7,962) candidates’ results are being withheld because of the alleged involvement of their Principal in aiding and abetting Examination Malpractice for his candidates. The particular of the school is as follows:

• Indebted Schools with Candidates’ Results Being Withheld

Ten (10) schools from two (2) counties withone thousand, four hundred and twenty-three (1,423) candidates representing 17.87% of the seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty-two (7, 962) candidates whose results are being withheld are indebted to WAEC for the Customized Mathematical Sets used by the candidates on the Examination  as follows:

• Irregularity Involving Non-Candidates

Irregularity involving non-candidates who allegedly aided and abetted examination malpractice are categorized as Examination Workers and Non-Examination Workers as follows:

• Examination Workers

Eight (8) examination workers who were assigned at5 centers/marking venue allegedly aided and abetted examination malpractice as follows:

• Non-Examination Workers

Six (6) school administrators/teachers who were not involved with the administration of the examination allegedly aided and abetted examination malpractice as follows:

3. DE-RECOGNITION OF EXAMINATION CENTER

The Council’s Regulations provide for the de-recognition of Examination Center if “the school authority can no longer organize or manage the school as an examination center. A school or center shall be de-recognized for a stated period if mass cheating is established in more than one paper/subject.  During the 2020 Examination, it was established that the three examinations, WASSCE, LJHSCE, and LPSCE were not properly administered at the Henri Wilmot Dennis United Methodist School as there were so many forms of examination malpractice taking place at that center for each of the three examinations. Subsequently, Henri Wilmot Dennis United Methodist School is being de-recognized and will not serve as an examination center for the next three years. At the end of the third year, the Secretariat will reassess the school to determine its suitability to serve as an examination center for future examination.

4. PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATES ON THE WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION (WASSCE) FOR SCHOOL CANDIDATES, 2020

Although the Examination has about111 subjects available for candidates in the anglophone West African Countries, candidates in Liberiasat WASSCE in nine (9) subjects: Economics, Geography, History, Literature-in-English, English Language, General Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. As a result of the policy of the Ministry of Education, nearly 50% of the candidates opted for the General or Arts Subjects on the Examination.

The tables below provide the number of candidates that registered and sat for the Examination per school on a county basis.

Statistics of Candidates who Sat the Examination from Private Schools

Performance of Candidates

The overall performance of the candidates in the 2020 WASSCE for School Candidates at the passing rate of at least a subject on the Examination is encouraging as compared to their counterparts who sat the same examination nationally for the first time in 2018. I am pleased to provide the provisional results for the Examination as follows:

Performance per School Type on County Basis

The table below provides the Comparative CountyPerformance per school type for WASSCE 2020.

Performance per Subject

The table below provides the comparative subject performance for WASSCE for the period 2018 to 2020.

The table above shows that the 2020 candidates performed better than their counterparts in 2019 in sixof the nine subjects (History, Literature-in-English, English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry & Physics) and in all the nine subjects taken for WASSCE in 2018.

Performance per Category

The table below provides the comparative performance for the period 2018 to 2020 per category for WASSCE.

The table above shows that the 2020 candidates performed slightly better than their counterparts in 2019 in twelve of the fifteen categories and in all of the categories in 2018.

• CANDIDATESWHO PASSED WITH CREDITSIN FIVE SUBJECTS INCLUDING ENGLISH & MATHEMATICS

Twenty-five(25) candidates comprising fifteen (15) males and ten (10) females from three (3) counties obtained a minimum of five credits inclusive of English Language and Mathematics of the Examination. The table below provides the three counties the candidates came from.

The details of the 25 candidates can be found in the next table below:

Best Performing Candidates Per Subject

The adage that says “give honor to whom honor is due” will be exemplified this year during the release of the results for WASSCE for School Candidates, 2020. There were several candidates that outperformed their peers during the Examination and the Secretariat wishes to recognize these young scholars for their scholastic achievements. This year’s results will recognize the best performing candidate per subject as well as the overall best performing candidate on the examination.

The table below provides the best performing candidate per subject on the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates conducted in 2020 in Liberia as follows:

The table above shows that five male candidates outperformed their peers in six of the nine subjects (History, English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) offered on the Examination while three female candidates were considered the best performing candidates in the remaining three subjects (Economics, Geography &Literature-in-English) on the Examination.

The Three Best Performing Candidates

The three best performing candidates on the examination came from two different schools in Montserrado. The details of the three candidates are provided in the table below.

5. CONCLUSION

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the Secretariat of WAEC wishes to once more express its sincere gratitude to the President and the Government and people of the Republic of Liberia for the confidence they have in WAEC to continue to execute the mandate of the Council in Liberia. The Secretariat wishes to assure the Government and people of Liberia that it will continue to explore innovative ways of providing quality service delivery to the people of Liberia and the sub-region in the years ahead.

Finally, let me also appreciate the Heads of Division and indeed all staff of the Monrovia Office of WAEC for their cooperation, support, and commitment to excellence in the execution of the Council’s mandate in Liberia.

School authorities can begin accessing and printing their candidates’ results immediately from their dedicated pages on the WAEC Online School Registration Portal while candidates can start accessing their results individually by using their Identification Numbers along with their Result Checker Serial Numbers and Pins indicated at the bottom of the Admission Notices beginning Saturday, November 14, 2020.