WAEC says students use shorthands and Pidgin English in their exams.
The West African Examination Council, WAEC has explained the reasons why so many students failed the English Language in the 2018 senior secondary certificate examination.
The Public Relations Officer of the Council in Ghana, in Ghana, Agnes Teye Cudjoe said the 2018 Chief Examiner's report shows that the students failed the subject because they used shorthand and Pidgin in their exams.
According to WAEC, 193,882 candidates, representing 61.67% out of the total number who sat for the exams failed to obtain a pass mark.
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Provisional results released by WAEC indicated that 99,402 which represents (31%) obtained D7-E8 in the English Language, while 68,002, representing 21.61%, obtained F9 in English Language, Punch reports.
Lack of vocabulary is also identified as one of the reasons the secondary school students fail the subject.
Cudjoe said, “You would agree with me that these days, our candidates hardly read, everybody is busy doing WhatsApp and all that. If students spend more time reading very good books, textbooks, Literature and English books they will improve and have command of the English Language.''
The Council's spokesperson added that the 2018 Chief Examiners Report informed WAEC of a lack of vocabulary in the scripts of most of the candidates.