The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has unveiled a new resit program, allowing students to retake their West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) earlier than ever.
Starting in January and February 2025, this initiative aims to help students quickly improve their grades and advance academically without waiting for the next private exam session.
John Kapi, WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, announced the program, named WASSCE PC1, in a statement. The exams are scheduled from January 24 to February 15, 2025, with registration open until January 8.
Students can register online through WAEC’s website or at accredited internet cafés. Kapi emphasized that this program provides a unique chance for students who wish to enhance specific subject scores without re-sitting the entire exam series.
To aid preparation, WAEC plans to release chief examiners’ reports, offering detailed feedback on common errors and strategies for improvement.
The initiative also targets students whose results were canceled, provided they were not banned for malpractice. However, due to the limited number of participants, the exams will initially be conducted only in regional capitals.
Felix Oluwaseun Agbesanwa, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUS) in Ogun State, praised the move as a positive step.
He said: “WAEC introduced a new policy that will allow students who failed their examinations to have a chance to resit the failed papers but gave a proviso which is the fact that such opportunity is for those who have not been banned and those whose papers were indicted as having cheated during the past examinations.
“As a stakeholder, I love this initiative but the date for the registration should be extended a bit till the end of the month, January.
“Many of the students who thought they can’t make their papers except they register for all papers will now have time to concentrate on the paper or papers they failed and by doing this, they can pass their papers if they read very well this time around and they pass their failed papers.
“To me I think that failed papers, if being sat for again and passed, will be added to their last results and it will clear off two sittings. Rather it will be one sitting except the body did not think in that direction.
“Furthermore, the students can still use this result to seek admission in any higher institution of their choice because WAEC said the examination will take place in March this year and definitely one expect results to be out quickly without any delay.
“Similarly, it will curb examination malpractices in a little way because passing examination syndrome by all means will reduce.
“Nevertheless, my fear is that students will not use this window to be more lackadaisical in their academics rather they will use this opportunity to read more and avoid resitting for any examination again.
“Though the cost of registration for the resit papers may be small and cannot be compared with the amount to be paid for the next examination, that doesn’t mean the students must see this window as a good opening to be lazy nor to be serious with their academics.
“Above all, it’s hoped that the body will be sincere with this policy and the reasons for introducing it will not be defeated.”
