A total of 1,959,636 candidates sitting for the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination will benefit from strengthened operational systems and tougher anti malpractice measures, the West African Examinations Council has confirmed, pledging that the disruptions which marred last year's exercise will not be repeated.

Speaking at a press briefing at the council's national office in Yaba, Lagos, on Monday, the Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Dr Amos Dangut, gave a firm commitment that the technical failures linked to the 2025 WASSCE, which temporarily forced the council to withdraw access to results following a paper serialisation error, had been fully resolved.

"We have learnt from our glitches. We have perfected everything, and I speak authoritatively that we will not have a repeat of that glitch," Dangut stated. "It will not happen again in terms of result release issues or any form of disruption. We have taken corrective measures and ensured that it does not repeat itself."

As part of its upgraded safeguards, WAEC now requires examination centres to maintain at least two functional power sources from a combination of the national grid, generator and solar. The council also disclosed that its computer based testing platform no longer requires continuous internet connectivity to function effectively during examinations.

"There are many ways we can solve that. Just be assured that a centre may not have full network coverage and still successfully conduct examinations," Dangut noted.

On anti malpractice efforts, the council has reinforced its question serialisation system so that no two candidates receive questions in the same sequence. WAEC has also launched an examination malpractice quarter on its website, where candidates can monitor the status of withheld results without payment or scratch cards.

"There is no payment required. You don't buy any scratch card. Once you have data, you log in and check why a case is being withheld. You are allowed to defend yourself online. It is transparent and fair," Dangut disclosed.

The number of schools operating under the computer based format has risen from fewer than 40 in 2025 to 450 schools for the current sitting. The examination, which commenced on April 21, covers 37 subjects and 97 papers and is scheduled to conclude on June 19.

Of the total candidates, 1,001,072, representing 51.08%, are female, while 958,564, representing 48.92%, are male. Approximately 29,000 teachers are serving as supervisors nationwide.

Results will be released 45 days after the final paper, with printed certificates issued to schools within 90 days. Digital certificates will be accessible through the WAEC Digital Certificate platform.