WAEC Defends Integrity Of 2026 WASSCE Results Amid School Concerns

By Sherif Salau

The West African Examinations Council has reaffirmed the integrity of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results, stating that its established processes of marking, moderation and quality assurance were applied consistently across all centres.

The statement comes after several schools expressed concern over outcomes that fell significantly short of their internal expectations. Among them is the secondary school of Babcock University, which described the results as its weakest performance in three decades. Particular scrutiny has focused on English Language and Mathematics, where candidates who previously demonstrated strong academic records appeared to underperform.

WAEC attributes the results to procedural continuity. According to the council, scripts underwent multi-stage marking supervised by subject specialists and were subjected to the same moderation frameworks used in previous years. It has also pointed to a modest decline in recorded cases of examination malpractice as evidence that enhanced security measures including elements of computer-based assessment and question serialisation are proving effective.

For schools that have built reputations on consistent high performance, the gap between internal assessments and external results presents both practical and reputational challenges. Institutions face pressure to account for the discrepancy to parents, students and their academic communities. At the same time, an examination body responsible for hundreds of thousands of candidates must maintain uniform standards if the value of its certificates is to be preserved.

The tension is inherent in large-scale public examinations. Schools possess detailed knowledge of their students’ day-to-day progress, while examination councils are required to apply criteria uniformly across diverse centres and regions. When the two perspectives diverge, friction is inevitable. Resolution, observers note, depends on clear channels for legitimate queries, transparent review processes where warranted, and a shared recognition that neither institutional pride nor administrative convenience should override the need for reliable assessment.

The 2026 results therefore test more than the performance of individual candidates or schools. They test the capacity of the examination system to maintain credibility under scrutiny and the readiness of educational institutions to engage constructively with outcomes that challenge established expectations.