The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination for external candidates.

This was announced at the council’s headquarters in Minna on Thursday.

The Registrar and Chief Executive, Godswill Obioma, said 41,459 candidates registered for the examination, out of which 39,503 actually sat.

Mr Obioma explained that 26,277 candidates obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics while 34,014 candidates also obtained five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.

The registrar who reiterated the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, said appropriate standards and excellence were maintained right from the planning stage to the release of results.

He also disclosed that 6,465 cases of examination malpractice were recorded in the 2020 SSCE External as against 17,004 cases in 2019.

He said the reduction in the level of malpractice was as a result of deepened monitoring of the examination by members of the governing board, management and senior staff of the council.

The Registrar stated that year 2020 ushered in very daunting challenges essentially occasioned by COVID-19 Pandemic and ENDSARS Protests in the pursuit of the Council mandates.

He explained that “this necessitated the rescheduling of the various examinations organised by NECO, for instance, 2020 SSCE (External) which ought to have been concluded in November/December 2020 was conducted in February/March 2021”.

According to him, “inspite of these, we were not deterred rather we remained resilient and resolute in the conduct of our activities”.

The Registrar reiterated the Council’s commitment to conducting credible examinations to improve the quality of education in the country. Professor Obioma explained that in view of the above, and based on approval of the Federal Ministry of Education, NECO has scheduled her public examinations for year 2021 as follows:

National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for admission of JSS 1 students into Federal Unity Colleges is scheduled for Saturday 29th May, 2021.

Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal is scheduled from Monday 5th July to Monday 16th August, 2021.

Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is scheduled for Monday 23rd August to Monday 6th September, 2021 in order to enable students at that level cover enough subject matter for the examination.