The Secretariat of the Liberia National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) said, it has observed that some stakeholders in education are misinterpreting the results for West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by misrepresenting pass to imply “graduation and matriculation” to higher institutions of learning.
WAEC hereby informs the public that the requirements for graduation, and matriculation are national policies set by the governments of member countries.
It can be recalled that in 2018, when Liberia fully joined the other member countries in writing WASSCE, the government decided that passing any one subject was the requirement for graduation, but not for matriculation.
Later, by 2020, the government decided that passing three subjects was the requirement for graduation.
Finally, in 2022, the government took the decision for the qualification for graduation and matriculation to be passing “five subjects,” including English Language and Mathematics.
Therefore, we want to use this medium to provide that candidates who write WASSCE are eligible to receive certificates if they pass in at least one subject, and not necessarily for graduation; only subject(s) passed by a candidate are being shown on the certificate; a candidate can have more than one certificate for different diets of WASSCE, and each of the certificates will only show the subjects that a candidate made a pass; the indication of “PASSED” in the remark column of the results spread sheets, and at the bottom of candidates’ individual results pages connotes that the candidate is eligible for certificates irrespective of the number of subjects passed, and it is the governments of member countries that determine a candidate’s eligibility for graduation and matriculation.
The Secretariat is hereby encouraging school authorities to adhere to the Ministry of Education eligibility criteria for graduation.
“We will appreciate school authorities reaching out to us for clarification about issues they do not understand.”