By Grace Q. Bryant
The head of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Liberia, Dale Gbotoe, has described the overall performance of the 2024 exams as encouraging, especially when compared to the first national examination in 2018
Gbotoe made the disclosure on yesterday, September 16, 2024 at the WAEC Office in Congo Town when he officially released the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, with over 45,000 students successfully making a pass.
He said, of the over 45,000 candidates, 23,462 female candidates passed, while 21,878 male candidates were successful with Maryland County recorded as the highest with a passing rate of 98.29% on the WASSCE.
Gbotoe noted that the 2024 candidates achieved a pass rate of 60% across two of the nine subjects, Biology and Economics and explained that the exam for school candidates was administered at 357 centers across the 15 counties and the Republic of Guinea from May 15 to June 25.
Gbotoe stated, “Nine subjects were offered, with Arts candidates sitting for seven, while Science candidates sat for a minimum of eight subjects.”
However, he highlighted several challenges faced by the Secretariat during the conduct of the 2024 exams, including delays in candidate registration and the late arrival of OMR (Objective Answer Sheets), which forced candidates to answer objective questions in their test booklets.
These delays according to him, contributed to the late release of results, as the Secretariat had to manually process the candidates’ responses.
Gbotoe also noted that the use of social media to facilitate examination malpractice posed a significant challenge.
The Secretariat is currently prosecuting individuals involved, with updates to be shared once the cases are adjudicated.
School authorities began accessing their candidates’ results last night through their dedicated pages on the WAEC Online School Registration Portal.
Candidates can access their results individually using their identification numbers, result checker serial numbers, and pins from their admission notices, starting Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
As the results are provisional, the Secretariat assures the public that any identified queries will be addressed and the results will be updated accordingly.
