WAEC revises 2025 SSCE results after grading error: What really happened?

Guardian Nigeria

Watch WAEC revises 2025 SSCE results after grading error: What really happened? - Guardian Nigeria on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00West African Examination Council has officially revised the 2025 SSE result

00:06after discovering grading errors linked to a new paper serialization system.

00:12Joining us to unpack all of this, what happened, the implications for students,

00:16and the lessons for the future is Mr. Alex Onyea, CEO, Educare.

00:21I am Timitayo Olumofey. Welcome to Guardian Talks.

00:30How significant is why it's admission of a grading error in 2025 SSE?

00:39And what does it mean for credibility of national examinations?

00:45Okay, several hundreds of thousands of students were actually affected.

00:50And the key subjects that I remember was English, maths, physics, chemistry, and economics.

00:56So these are like the key subjects that were affected.

01:00So right now, it's a huge dent on their credibility, and they have to fix it for this kind of thing to happen.

01:07So they need to probably find the point.

01:09But I think my wife is going to CBT next year.

01:12So that can also be a good way to correct such.

01:15The CBT thing, you know, moving from the handwritten examination and then taking it a step further to CBT,

01:26do you think it's going to be very easier for students outside Lagos, especially in the north,

01:33for people that might not be accustomed to such development?

01:36Those people, they write jam, right?

01:42If they can write jam, I think they should also be able to write one.

01:47So I don't see it as so much.

01:49If they organize it a lot better, I don't think it's so much of a big challenge.

01:53Oh, okay.

01:54So there's really an infrastructure in place for that, yes.

01:57Okay.

01:58For clarity, could you break down the paper serialization, means, and why I adopted it?

02:05So I think what they did was they had, like, four paper types.

02:14So four paper types probably had different codes.

02:17They have four paper types.

02:18So maybe I am writing paper 0048.

02:21Okay.

02:22I think they have four paper types, yes.

02:24Okay.

02:25So maybe I'm writing paper 0048.

02:29You are writing paper 0049.

02:32The next person is writing 0051.

02:35And the other person is writing.

02:37So maybe the four people sitting together or the eight persons probably are going to be

02:43writing different papers.

02:45So that makes it a lot difficult for exam malpractice to happen.

02:50Right?

02:51Yeah.

02:52Because if you give everybody the same exam, it's very easy.

02:56I can be at one age and I'm already giving you signs of different answers and the rest.

03:03So that's basically what they did to see how they can call malpractice.

03:07But I don't even know if that was actually where the issue erupted from.

03:10Came from.

03:11Right.

03:12Now, the counsel mentioned that English language objective paper was caught with incorrect keys.

03:20How could such an error slip through their quality check?

03:23The point is, what is the quality of their quality check?

03:31So if the quality of their quality check determines where these errors can actually happen.

03:37If the quality of their quality check is really poor, then of course they can even have more

03:41errors that they probably have to still cover up as well.

03:44Well, now let's look beyond English.

03:50Subjects like mathematics, biology, and economics were also serialized.

03:56Should students be worried about similar mistakes in those subjects?

04:02Yes.

04:03The corrections actually affected all the subjects.

04:06Now, from your, from your, you want, you're saying something, sir?

04:16No, I said it did.

04:18I'm done basically affirming that it did.

04:20Okay.

04:21So from your perspective, what immediate steps should WIED take to restore public trust after

04:27this incident?

04:27The thing is, this kind of incident should never have happened again.

04:35I mean, you guys are your exam bodies, right?

04:38Yeah.

04:38You write your exams.

04:40You have, you probably take a year to prepare for this exam.

04:44You have a lot of time to do your vetting and nobody pushes you to publish.

04:49So you have to also improve on your quality control checks and probably have independent auditors

04:54too to participate.

04:55So at the end of every of your assessment, you'll have your two, three, four layers of

05:00quality checks.

05:02Probably an independent auditor also enjoys one of the layers.

05:06Then before you go public.

05:08So they have to ensure that it should never happen again.

05:14Hopefully.

05:15Looking ahead, how can technology, when implemented correctly, improve examination security without

05:22risking such large-scale grading errors?

05:25Yeah.

05:28You know, it's just like every exam.

05:32Once your technology is done right, and you have different layers of check, you've already

05:39eliminated above 80% of the issues that you will ever have.

05:43Yeah.

05:44Right?

05:45Whether it's the idea of malpractice, is it of missing stars, or is it of missing images?

05:49There are so many issues that will arise.

05:51If you don't use the technology, we're here to eliminate them.

05:55Right?

05:55Yeah.

05:56So it's when you achieve that, then everything you do will work.

06:00Well, thank you.

06:04Thank you, Mr. Alex Onya, CEO, Educare.

06:07I mean, we are hopeful that something as huge like this, an error like this will not repeat

06:15itself next year.

06:17I mean, like you said, they have one year to prepare, and there is no excuse if something

06:23like this slips through YAC's quality checks.

06:26Thank you for your time with us, sir.

06:29You're welcome.

06:30Thank you so much.

06:31So have a great day.

06:34Thank you, Edu.

06:34Thank you, Mr. Onya, for sharing your insight with us.

06:37This YAC 2025 revision has shown us that innovation must go hand-in-hand with accuracy.

06:44I am Timitai Olumafey, and this has been Guardian Talks.

06:48Have a great time.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended