The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially released the provisional results of candidates for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

In a statement on Wednesday, the Council’s Head of Public Affairs, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, disclosed that the entire results of some 3,667 students have been withheld.

According to her, the move is to facilitate the investigation into various cases of examination malpractice detected during and after papers.

“The scripts of candidates from 194 schools in certain subjects have also been withheld and are being scrutinised.

“The withheld results of candidates may be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations,” she explained.

For those whose results have been published, Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said the Council will provide login details to Heads of schools to enable them to print their candidates' results.

She also noted that the results have been made available online, as such, “candidates who so desire, may access their results at the Council's website or dial the short code *944#.”

She, however, warned candidates against using dubious means to change their grades.

According to her, “all WAEC results are secured and can be authenticated. Institutions are, therefore, urged always to verify results presented to them to expose incidents of forgery.”

A total of 446,352 candidates, made up of 221,439 (49.6 %) males and 224,913 (50.4 %) females from 965 schools sat for the 2021 WASSCE in September.

The figure, according to WAEC, is 18.8% higher than the 2020 figure of 375,763 who took the exams.

However, a total of 3,545 (0.79 %) of the candidates who registered were absent from the examination.