DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2014.v02i05.012

Pages: 670-676

This is a review paper that cantered on poor academic performance generally in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination which has become a great concern to various stakeholders in the educational sector, most especially in Nigeria. The paper argued that mass failure of students in public examinations could be traced to several factors that can be compartmentalized into the domains of parents, students, teachers, schools, the language of instruction, government and the society among others. In other words, the causes of mass failure of students in public examinations are multi-dimensional in nature. The paper concluded that mass failure of students in public examinations constitutes wastage on investment in secondary education. The paper recommended that since academic performance is a virile instrument to the national development of any nation; all concerned stakeholders must be responsive to their roles in order to restore hope to the current grotesque academic performance of students in WAEC in Nigeria.