LAGOS — In a historic demographic shift for regional education, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that female candidates have officially outnumbered males in the registration for the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The announcement, made Monday at the council's national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, signals a significant evolution in the gender parity of secondary school completion in Nigeria.
Breaking Down the 2026 Enrollment Figures
Amos Dangut, the Head of the Nigeria National Office (HNO), provided a comprehensive breakdown of the statistics for the upcoming examination cycle. A total of 1,959,636 candidates from 24,207 recognized secondary schools have successfully enrolled for the May/June diet.
The gender distribution highlights a notable trend:
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Female Candidates: 1,001,072 (51.08% of total enrollment)
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Male Candidates: 958,564 (48.92% of total enrollment)
Dangut emphasized that these figures represent a clear increase in female participation and a corresponding decline in male enrollment compared to the 2025 cycle. Educational analysts suggest this trend reflects the growing success of girl-child education initiatives across the country, though the slight dip in male figures has prompted calls for further investigation into school retention rates for boys in certain regions.
Examination Logistics and Integrity Measures
The 2026 WASSCE is scheduled to begin on April 21 with practical assessments and is slated to conclude on June 19. Over the course of the two-month window, candidates will be tested in 37 subjects spanning 97 individual papers.
To ensure the smooth conduct of the exercise, WAEC has mobilized approximately 29,000 senior secondary school teachers nominated by various state ministries of education to serve as supervisors. Furthermore, the council is doubling down on its "Integrity First" policy:
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Serialisation of Papers: To combat examination malpractice, WAEC will continue the serialisation of question papers, ensuring that no two candidates in a hall receive the same sequence of questions.
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CBT Expansion: Following the successful pilot in 2025, a significantly higher number of schools have opted for the Computer-Based Examination (CBE) format this year.
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Digital Certificates: Successful candidates will be able to access digital copies of their results immediately via the WAEC digital platform, with physical certificates arriving at schools within 90 days.
Commitment to Timely Results
Understanding the pressure on students seeking tertiary admission, Dangut assured stakeholders that results would be released within 45 days of the final paper. This streamlined timeline is part of WAEC’s broader modernization effort to align with international academic calendars.
As the April 21 start date approaches, the council has urged schools to ensure that all internal assessments are uploaded promptly and that candidates are adequately sensitized to the rules and regulations of the examination to avoid disqualification.
