By Kaddy Jawo

The West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results have been released with more than 18,000 Gambian registered students took the regional standard test to conclude their secondary education level.

In this factsheet, we analyse the public data provided by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) following the release of the results in August.

Number of students registered for WASSCE

According to the Ministry, 18,042 Gambian Grade 12 students were registered to take the exam. The number is representative of 148 senior secondary schools across the country, administered by West Africa Examination Council.

WASSCE credential is a requirement for enrollment eligibility into the University of The Gambia f(UTG) or other universities across the world for any Bachelor’s Degree program. Therefore, the performance of students on this exam has a direct connection to their ability to pursue higher education.

Gender representation

Once again, based on the data released by MoBSE, female candidates outnumbered their male counterparts in terms of the registration statistics for the 2023-24 academic year.

6,943 male students took the exam, representing 38.4% of the total registered. On the other hand, the number of female candidates who registered for the WASSCE for the same academic year stands at 11,099 students, representing a percentage base of 61..52%. This trend has been the case for the recent past years, giving hope for an increased female education in the country.

It also goes to show that the efforts to promote gender equality in education deserve much credit as stakeholders such as the government’s free education system, campaigns by civil society, NGOs, and the UN systems have paid dividends.

WAEC grades WASSCE students based on six grading systems in order of merit from A to F. In that case, A1 represents ‘Excellent’. B2 represents  ‘Very Good,’ B3 stands for ‘Good,’ while C4, C5, and C6 stand for ‘Credit’ and D7 means fail.

As per MoBSE’s record, 1389 candidates which is a representative of 7.70% have achieved credit passes in 5 subjects, including English language and Mathematics.As per MoBSE’s record, 1389 candidates which is a representative of 7.70% have achieved credit passes in 5 subjects, including English language and Mathematics.

However, 3,317 students representing 19.6% got credit passes in a minimum of 5 subjects. The Ministry describes these statistics as an improvement on last year’s by 2.7%.

The Ministry’s data also shows that 23.8% of candidates received credit passes in mathematics in WASSCE 2024, the highest in the last decade.

Performances by gender

598 male students obtained 5+ credit passes and 791 female students with 5+ credit passes representing 3.31% and 4.38% respectively.

Meanwhile, the Ministry also reported 28 suspected examination malpractices involving 13 schools.

Note: Malagen media monitoring could not analyse the performances by region because the Ministry says it’s currently working on the data. This platform will do the analysis on the performances of students by region once such information are available to us.