Just 45.7% of Lagos Students Passed 2024 WASSCE — State Govt Vows Reforms

Just 45.7% of Lagos Students Passed 2024 WASSCE — State Govt Vows Reforms

The Lagos State Government has revealed that only 45.7% of students who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) passed, leaving 54.3%—around 31,596 students—without the required results.

Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, shared the statistics during a media briefing marking Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second year in his second term. He acknowledged the drop in performance and assured the public that the government is working on innovative strategies to improve outcomes in future WASSCE and external exams.

According to the commissioner, the state spent approximately N1.577 billion to cover exam fees for the 58,188 students who sat for the 2024 WASSCE. To ensure proper oversight and eliminate wastage, Lagos implemented a biometric and image registration process for all final-year secondary school students. This initiative confirmed 56,134 students as eligible for the 2025 WASSCE sponsorship.

“In order to ensure accountability, we used biometric registration to identify those truly qualified for government sponsorship,” Alli-Balogun said.

In the tertiary education sector, Commissioner for Tertiary Institutions, Tolani Sule, disclosed that Lagos State disbursed N100.8 million in scholarships and bursaries to 1,165 students over the past year.

He also noted strong progress across state-owned universities, including the newly established ones. The Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), in particular, has secured full course accreditations from both the National Universities Commission (NUC) and various professional bodies.

The state government says it remains committed to education reform and student support across all academic levels.