The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has criticised the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over its decision to implement the new senior secondary curriculum for the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), describing the move as “unfair, irrational and disruptive.”
In a letter dated November 21, 2025, WAEC informed school principals that candidates sitting for the 2026 examination would be assessed under the new curriculum. The ERC says this directive will force thousands of students to register for at least two subjects they have never studied since Senior Secondary School One (SS1), in order to meet the minimum eight-subject requirement for the examination.
The group argued that WASSCE preparation requires a full three-year academic cycle from SS1 to SS3. Compressing that into two terms, it said, would leave students academically stranded and unprepared. “How does WAEC expect students to be prepared for the exam in just two terms?” the organisation queried.
In a statement signed by its National Mobilisation Officer, Adaramoye Michael Lenin, the ERC said it has no objection to the introduction of a new curriculum but condemned what it termed WAEC’s “fire-brigade approach” to implementation. The organisation maintained that the new curriculum should only take effect for the cohort beginning SS1 in 2025, making 2028 the earliest realistic year for WASSCE under the revised structure.
The ERC cited the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), the government agency statutorily responsible for curriculum development, to support its position. In a public notice issued on September 25, 2025, NERDC stated that curriculum implementation should commence “at the beginning of each three-year learning cycle (Primary 1, Primary 4, JSS1 and SS1).” The campaign group said this guidance makes it “puzzling and unacceptable” that WAEC is insisting on applying the new curriculum to current SS3 students.
The ERC noted that many parents, teachers, and education stakeholders have already expressed outrage over the planned implementation, warning that it could jeopardise students’ performance and destabilise the academic system. It called for a coordinated nationwide campaign to compel WAEC and the Federal Ministry of Education to reverse the decision without delay.
“For the sake of our children and posterity, we must act now,” the statement added.
The group urged parents and concerned members of the public to join the campaign and provided contact numbers for mobilisation: 0802 341 8962 and 0813 705 1249.
