Statistics: WAEC launches platform with database of over 50 million candidates

The Nigerian office of the West African Examinations Council has launched an educational statistics platform, EDUSTAT to “ease access to quality data and insights in the education sector”

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony Wednesday at the council’s office in Yaba Lagos, the Head of National Office (HNO), Patrick Areghan, said the platform is designed for the public to “leverage WAEC’s comprehensive and reliable database of over 50 million candidates who have been tested over the years”.

He said EDUSTAT is borne out of the desire to provide stakeholders with a reliable platform that provides educational insights collected from multiple sources and delivered in simplified graphs, summaries, and dashboards which he noted help to enhance decisions.

Mr Areghan listed such stakeholders as researchers, funding agencies, government institutions, school administrators, and parents.

“This innovation was done to take the edge off the manual access to data by stakeholders, improve the quality of service delivery and generate more revenue for the Council,” he said.

EDUSTAT to address issues

While introducing the new platform, Mr Areghan explained that EDUSTAT has been created to solve problems and ease the work of stakeholders.

He said: “For many stakeholders, lack of quality data has led to inconsistencies and multiple data copies in education. For others, incorrect data and the absence of analytics have led to false facts resulting in bad decision-making and loss of revenue, in some cases.

“WAEC identified these issues and sought to solve the problem through its new EDUSTAT product, which addresses poor infrastructure and the manual process of accessing educational insights and statistics.”

Speaking further, Mr Areghan said the core benefit of the platform is access to a comprehensive interactive “Web Report.”

He noted that one of the platform’s key features is its ability to analyse data in real time. “This means that educators can get immediate feedback on how their students are performing, enabling them to adjust their teaching strategies as needed.”

He added that the platform is designed to be user-friendly and customisable, allowing educators to tailor it to their specific needs and preferences.

More benefits

Mr Areghan further highlighted how stakeholders can effectively use the product, noting that the platform seeks to change views about data analysis by providing users with easy-to-use tools to analyse and visualize data.

He said: “For Government agencies, it provides detailed statistics on student enrollment, graduation rates, and academic performance at various levels of government. This information will help policymakers make data-driven decisions about education policy, funding, and programme design.

He said: “For schools, the platform offers student-level data on academic performance, attendance, and demographic information. This data can be used to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses within the school and informed decisions about how to improve student outcomes.

“Institutions such as universities and colleges can also benefit from the platform by accessing data on enrollment and academic performance of their students. This information can be used to identify areas where additional resources are needed to support students and improve overall performance.

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“Similarly, the platform provides researchers with a comprehensive and intuitive way to track and analyse educational statistics. It is designed to be accessible to educators at all levels, from classroom teachers to school administrators and policymakers.”

He added that the platform will help to easily track student progress, identify areas of weakness, and make data-driven decisions to improve outcomes for all students.