The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Yomi Otubela, has attributed the decline in performance in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to the poor conditions under which some students sat for the exams, including writing papers late into the night using candles and torchlights.
Otubela stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily while reacting to the 2025 WASSCE results released by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Monday, showing a sharp decline in performance.
According to WAEC, only 38.32 per cent of candidates obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, a significant drop from the 72.12 per cent recorded in 2024.
The Head of Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, had attributed the drop in performance to the Council’s new approach of serialising objective test papers in key subjects such as English, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.
“This approach drastically reduced the incidence of collusion and made examination malpractice more difficult. We observed a dip in the performance of objective papers, but essay papers remained consistent with previous years. It’s a strong signal that candidates must rely on their own preparation,” he had said.
However, the NAPPS president stated that the conditions under which the examination was written in some states can not be overruled as the reason for the low performance.
“We cannot overrule the fact that the condition in which the examination was taken in some states is not acceptable to us. The fact that children were taking exams late into the night with candles and torchlights cannot be a standard that will allow us to have commendable results,” he said on Wednesday.
The NAPPS president commended students who managed to perform despite the harsh conditions, attributing the significant dip in the pass rate to systemic issues within the country’s education sector.
“I must commend children who, in spite of all the economic hardship and other challenges in preparing for the exam, came out with commendable results.
“Overall, I think there is a challenge in our educational system at the moment. Both private and government stakeholders need a more robust working relationship to identify where the challenges lie and proffer lasting solutions,” he said.
WAEC, after releasing the results on Monday, said 1,718,090 candidates out of the 1,969,313 who sat the exams received their results.
In May, there were widespread criticisms about how the WASSCE was conducted in parts of the country with students in Taraba, Ogun, and other states ending up taking exams at night.
Dangut had apologised, explaining that WAEC made emergency changes due to intelligence about a potential exam paper compromise, which led to the delays.
He had called it regrettable and assured that steps were taken to prevent this from happening again.
