The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education has announced this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, stating that 1,346,855 passes were recorded giving a pass rate of 83% and 34,525 results withheld.
Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Conrad Sackey said 243,202 candidates from 888 schools in Sierra Leone entered for the May/lune WASSCE in 2023. The results for 28 private schools, that are owing WAEC, were not in the list sent to the MBSSE which contained just 230,973 names from 860 schools.
He said 191,077 candidates on the list released to the MBSSE sat at least one subject/paper, 33,238 were without results as their results have been withheld, whilst another 6,658 had no results as they were absent for all subjects.
Overall, Minister Sackey said candidate entry for the 2023 WASSCE is the highest ever recorded. At 243,202, the entry was even higher than the 163,860 entry for the 2023 NPSE and the 206,874 entry for the 2022 WASSCE. At the same time, the total of 34,525 results withheld are the highest ever and demonstrate the continuing efforts of the MBSSE and WAEC to eradicate examination malpractices.
Giving key highlights on the exams, the minister said of the 230,973 candidates on the results received by the MBSEE, 121,324 were female and 109,649 were male, ie. 52.5% were female. This continues the trend of more female than male candidate entries for WASSCE.
He said of the 191,077 candidates that sat at least one subject and whose results have been released, 101,222 (536) were female and 89,855 were male. Again this is a continuation of the trend of more female than male candidates actually sitting WASSCE.
Also, the minister said: “A total of 1,630,980 subject papers were sat by the 191,077 candidates that sat at least 1 subject. 1,346,855 passes were recorded giving a pass rate of 83%. Given that the pass rates in 2021 and 2022 were 646 and 77%, this year’s pass rate is the highest ever and that the number of students obtaining the benchmark minimum of 5 credits in a single sitting is the highest ever. From 113,824 in 2022, it has moved to 137,796 in 2023 even with a large number of results still withheld. The breakdown shows that 551 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects but did not obtain a credit in English Language or Mathematics, 233 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including English Language but did not obtain a credit in Mathematics, 105,924 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including Mathematics but did not obtain a credit in English Language, 31,088 candidates obtained a credit grade or better in at least 5 subjects including Mathematics and English Language. 13,688 candidates have 3 credits whilst another 26,128 candidates have 4 credits – these candidates would qualify for entry to some post-secondary certificate and diploma programmes.
He said two candidates shared top position in the 2023 WASSCE results released to the MBSSE. One is a female and the other is a male. They are both from the same school. Their names are Raymonda E. Mammah and Sahr Edward Fillie. Their school of entry was Providence International Senior High School. Both sat 9 subjects. They obtained 8 A1s (excellent) and 1 B2 (very good). Their average grade/unit was 1.11 (excellent). 16 of the candidates with released results in 2023 have better average grades than the best average grade obtained in 2022.
Mr. Sackey went on that the best performing school, Providence International Senior High School, had the results for 185 of its candidates released. All 185 candidates (100%) obtained a credit or better in a minimum of 5 subjects including English Language and Mathematics i.e. they all obtained the requirements for direct entry to a university undergraduate degree programme. He added saying: “As already indicated, the number of candidates achieving direct university undergraduate degree programme entry requirements by obtaining 5 credits including a credit in English Language and/or Mathematics in a single sitting is, at 137,245, even higher than the 108,418 of 2022. This is worth noting as it has been reached even with the withholding of 34,525 results which, if and when released, could result in even more candidates meeting the university entrance requirements.
“The percentage of candidates with credit or better in English Language was a disappointingly low 17%. There are variation in performance across subjects but overall performance in the different subjects is much better in 2023 than in 2022. In all the key subjects there are significant improvements in the number and percentage of candidates in the A1 to C4 range. The MBSSE İs studying the grade distribution for all subjects closely and will engage WAEC in discussions as necessary.
“District performance is better in 2023 than in 2022, with the average grade for all districts being in the range of 5 to 6 i.e. credit grade range. The best performing district had 79.4% of its candidates, whose results have been released, with credits or better in 5 or more subjects including English Language and/or Mathematics. 11 out of the 16 districts had over 90% of their candidates, whose results have been released, with a minimum of 3 credits in subjects sat.
“The MBSSE is aware of concerns about the integrity of our examinations and is working tirelessly with WAEC and other agencies to eradicate examination malpractices. In this regard, the public will be informed of actions taken against individuals and entities found to have been involved in malpractices in the 2023 WASSCE, at the same time, WAEC has already proactively withheld 34,525 results whilst investigations are going on”.
