The Banjul-based office the sub-regional educational body, the
West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has made public the results from the
May-June 2012 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations
(WASSCE).
WAEC said a total of 7847 candidates from 66 Senior Secondary
Schools registered for the examination, of which 4226 (53.85%) were male and
3621 (46.15%) female.
In its Tuesday’s statement, WAEC revealed male candidates
dominates their female counterparts in 26 of the 31 subjects registered by both
categories of candidates. But said female candidates performed better
than male candidates in five subjects, including auto-mechanics, Christian
Religious Knowledge, Applied Electricity, French and Technical Drawing.
Overall, Gambian students registered in 32 subjects in the 2012
WASSCE, including English Language, Mathematics and a host of Science, Arts,
Commerce, and Technical Subjects. “Out of the 32 subjects, the performance of candidates improved
in 26 subjects when compared to performance in the previous year,” the Council
said.
“However, performance regressed this year in six (6) subjects which
included Economics, Literature-in-English and Further Mathematics.” It also said 394 (5.02%) of all candidates obtained credit
passes in five subjects including English Language and Mathematics, contrary to
the 2011 figure of 351 (4.45%). “There has been a marked improvement in the percentage obtaining
the minimum requirement for university entrance,” WAEC said.
Exam Cheats
On May 9, 2012 WAEC’s Office in Gambia decided to annul the
Grade 9 Science Paper 2 exam for Gambia Basic Education Certificate
Examination(GABECE) taken by upper basic schools.
The decision followed allegations of cheating in one of the
upper basic (junior) schools in rural Gambia. At Nioro Jataba Upper Basic School, in the Lower River Region
the Education Directorate in the regional capital, Mansakonko, confirmed that
the “security bag” containing the question papers was tempered with. “The lock of the door was damaged and when the bag was opened,
one of the envelopes containing 50 question papers was opened and two copies of
the question papers were missing,” Mr. Pateh
Bah, the head of the WAEC Gambia Office said.
It was untill the latter part of the examination period when the ministry empowered WAEC to reprint the cancelled Science paper at a tune of D444, 096.95.
A May 13 statement said: “The West African Examinations Council,
Banjul office therefore enjoins the public once again, as it has done on many
fora before, to give their support in rooting out examination mal-practices
from our society.”
Written by Modou S. Joof
