WAEC Calls for Improved Teachers, Facilities to Boost Student Performance

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has called for a critical review of human and material resources in Nigerian schools, stressing that improving the quality of teachers and learning facilities is essential to boosting student performance in public examinations.

The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Dr Amos Dangut, made the call during a recent press briefing at the council’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, where he raised concerns about gaps in Nigeria’s education system and their impact on academic outcomes.

His comments come during the renewed debate over the performance of West African countries in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), where Ghanaian students reportedly produced the top three candidates among over 2.6 million candidates from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

At the 74th Annual Council Meeting of WAEC held in March, three Ghanaian students — Huda Suleman, Paula Suwo, and Matthea Andoh, were recognised as the highest performers in the region, further intensifying discussions on disparities in educational standards across member countries.

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Dr Dangut questioned whether Nigerian schools currently have adequate, qualified teachers, laboratories, and other essential learning facilities required to support effective teaching and learning, particularly in science-related subjects.

According to him, WAEC’s role is strictly to conduct examinations and provide reliable assessment data, while the responsibility of interpreting and using such data for policy formulation lies with education planners and managers.

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WAEC’s Exact Statement

“So if in these few years we are observing this, ours is to provide the data, the information. And it is for education planners and managers to take it and formulate policies that will change it. We are not really a research organisation.

“To do that, we provide the data. But you and I know that we have to step up on the things that we know. We have to look at the human and material resources in our learning environment.

“When you talk of humans, do the schools have adequately qualified teachers? This is a question to answer.

“The facilities, are there sufficient examination facilities? Are the laboratories well-equipped? Is the environment conducive to teaching and learning? And so on,”  - Dangut Said

He, however, noted that the Ghana feat was only recent, noting that Nigeria had, in years past, dominated in producing top-performing WASSCE candidates.

“You see, the world is dynamic. If you follow the trend in performance, there were times Nigerians were the ones collecting all the prizes.

According to WAEC, in the 2025 WASSCE, only 754,545 out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, representing 38.32 per cent.

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