By Fatimah Idera and Helen Okechukwu
Some students are grappling with the low performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination results released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), leading to mental health challenges and leaving them to question the educational system of the country.
Edisemi Kenneth, a TikTok user, aged 16 as displayed on his page, expressed depression with a caption, “Live so private everybody knows I failed Maths and English in WAEC. I don’t know what’s happening, but I know it will be fine.”
Kenneth, whose hope is now pinned on the National Examinations Council (NECO), last Monday, disclosed that his Mathematics grade in the released WAEC result should be C6.
“Literature, how? Government, how? English and Maths, I don’t even know what to say. Check on me. I’m not okay,” he lamented, revealing how his mental health has been affected.
When our reporter reached out to him, he had not responded prior to the time of publication.
Another student and TikTok user named Nelly White, in a post shared on 7 August, expressed frustration over her poor result, stating that she had four As, three Bs, and one C in various subjects but failed English Language.
“I’ve cried out my life since yesterday. I took my WAEC so seriously only to see F9. I’m also crying while writing this,” she noted, lamenting that her only hope rests on NECO, while highlighting how little she had prepared for her Physics NECO paper.
As social media went ablaze, another netizen on TikTok with the username blessed_baby35 said, “At this point, the educational standard in Nigeria is becoming wack. Like they told their markers to fail 70% of the students. Well, they caused some innocent kids to cry and all. I won’t say much, but they shouldn’t be shocked when their leaders of tomorrow are becoming great in outside countries.”
After the news of the release of the results was earlier announced on Monday, 4 August 2025, it showed that 38% of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination passed, with many failing English Language and Mathematics.
Last Wednesday, the body withheld some following the massive poor performance. The outcome drew wide reactions from Nigerians, raising concerns about the Nigerian education system.
As these issues continue to gain momentum, New Daily Prime visited Igbelaara in Igbogbobayeku Local Government, Ikorodu, Lagos State, to get the response of citizens, including students.
Arafat Bello, a mother and businesswoman who resides in Igbe, told our correspondents that the withheld results caused a lot of damage, resulting in negative impacts, triggering mental health illness.
She expressed concern while speaking extensively, saying that a lot of children who sat for the examinations are going through depression while some are questioning the value of school.
She noted also, this was not the right time to speak with students who participated in the examination.
“This is not the right time you should speak with students. Some of these students are demoralised, depressed, frustrated, and some are asking what use the educational system in Nigeria is.”
While speaking to Ayyub, a participant of the examination he said he is yet to check his results.
When trying to reach out to more respondents, both parents and students decline to speak further as they are scared of being victimised.
WAEC takes blame for technical glitch
The examination body had formally apologised to candidates and the public over the technical issues discovered in the recently released results of the 2025 WASSCE.
In a statement on Thursday, the body, through its Ag. Head of Public Affairs, from the council’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, Moyosola Adesina, disclosed that measures were implemented to combat examination malpractice, which included a new innovation known as paper serialisation by WAEC.
However, last Friday, after WAEC reviewed the results, 62.96% of candidates (1,239,884 out of 1,969,313) secured credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Speaking with Alia Ahmed via WhatsApp, she shared that her younger sister who checked her result on Monday made almost all the papers except English Language and Literature but after revisiting the website on Saturday, her English result was credible but had D7 on Literature.
“The first time they released the result, all her papers were good but her English and Literature were not good. But as they upgraded the result today, the English was okay but her Literature she has D7,” she added.
