SSCE: NECO Releases Results, Says 33,470 Candidates Involved In Exam Malpractices

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of 2020 internal Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) indicating that a total of 33,470 candidates were involved in various forms of malpractices in the examination.

“There is a decrease in malpractice cases in examinations conducted by the examination body,” Professor Godswill Obioma,  Registrar of the council said on Wednesday when he announced the release of the results at the NECO Headquarters in Minna, Niger State.

According to the registrar, 894,101  candidates made five credits and above in English Language and Mathematics representing 73.89 per cent of the total candidates that sat for the examination nationwide. The figure was 829,787 in 2019.

“When compared to 2019 June/July SSCE figures of 829,787, there was an increase of 2.3 per cent,” Obioma said. 

The Council also derecognised 12 schools for their involvement in mass cheating and whole school cases of malpractice.

He said the schools derecognised include four schools in Adamawa, two in Kaduna, two in Kastina, two in Niger, one in Taraba and one in FCT.

Giving a breakdown of the examination outlook, the NECO Registrar said the of candidates that registered for the examination was 1,221,447 representing 665,830 males and 555,617 females. 

He, however, said the actual number of candidates that sat for the examination was 1,209,992 including  659,796 males representing 54.53 per cent and 550,126 females representing 45.46 per cent.

Of these, he said 160 were candidates with ‘Special Needs’.

Obioma explained that 973,331 representing 82.68 per cent made credit and above in English Language while 1,060,100 representing 90.08 per cent made credit and above in Mathematics 

He also said the number of candidates who made five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics is 1,112,041 representing 91.91 per cent. 

“When compared to 2019 June/July SSCE figures of 1,042,989, there is an increase of 2.01 per cent,” he said. 

Malpractice Rate, #EndSARS Protest

Obioma said  33,470 candidates were involved in various forms of malpractices in 2020.

He, however, said there is a decrease in malpractice cases in examinations conducted by the examination body when compared with the previous year.

According to him, the  233,000 candidates in 12 states who were to write six subjects were affected by the EndSARs protests that erupted across the country.

The council also said candidates who could not write the examinations during #EndSARS protest would write their examination during the 2021 SSCE examination scheduled to hold from February 1 to March 3, 2021. 

“We wish to inform the general public that the Council has made specific arrangements for those candidates who missed some papers due to the #EndSARS Protest in those states, the affected candidates will now sit for those papers missed during the forthcoming 2020 SSCE (external) scheduled from Monday 1st February 2021 to Wednesday 3rd March 2021,” Obioma said.

“The affected candidates will now sit for those papers missed during the forthcoming 2020 SSCE (External) which is scheduled from 1st February to 3rd March 2021. These special arrangements will be at no extra cost to these candidates.” 

“Upon the release of the 2020 SSCE Internal results, the results of the affected candidates will be pending for the papers missed and the results would be subsequently updated the supplementary examination results are released,” he said.

EndSARS protest was a series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The protest called for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) , a unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses.

Within a few days of the protests, the Nigerian Police Force dissolved the unit with immediate effect, however, some candidates were unable to write the 2020 NECO SSCE due to the protest.

The council also derecognised some schools. They include four schools in Adamawa, two in Kaduna, two in Kastina, Two in Niger, one in Taraba and one in FCT. 

The registrar said  24 supervisors were also blacklisted for various offences ranging from poor supervision, aiding and abetting, connivance with non-candidates to write answers on the chalkboard. 

The council did not mention the names of the blacklisted supervisors.

The National Examination Council (also known as NECO) is an examination body Nigeria that conducts the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination and the General Certificate in Education in June/July and November/December respectively.