Following the release of the 2018 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination on Wednesday, experts have expressed worry over the decline in performance from 59.22 per cent in 2017 to 49.98 per cent credit passes and above this year.

The council’s Head of National Office, Mr. Olu Adenipekun, had said the 49.98 per cent represented 786,016 out of 1,572,396 candidates who sat for the examination.

He said, “858,424 other candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language, but without Mathematics.”

Reacting to the disclosure, experts blamed the decline in overall performance on the large number of scripts examiners had to mark, which, they argued, affected thoroughness.