About 30 million certificate holders who had taken the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) as far back as 1999 till date, will be able to access and share the original copies of their digital certificates from anywhere in the world, the Head of National Office (HNO) Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Areghan, has said.
Areghan disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, at the launch of WAEC digital certificate platform, that will enable users to access, share, request and confirm their certificates.
Those of 1970 to 1998, he noted, will be attended to shortly.
To assess, confirm and share the certificates, users will have to pay; N 7,500, N5,000 and N3,500, respectively. Areghan said the platform will also be used to recover candidates’ forgotten/lost examination numbers, adding that attestation which used to cost N60,000, has been reduced to N7,500.
“We have sensitise over 1,000 institutions in Nigeria and also talked to the embassies on the digital certification.”
He emphasised on the importance of technology in achieving the feat, and why Nigeria is starting ahead of Ghana, saying that the council was evolving to meet the demands of a changing world.
According to him,” we have migrated from physical registration of candidates to online registration; online verification of results and online result printouts, etc. The development of the new digital certificate platform is in line with WAEC’s continuous record of meeting global needs by using cutting-edge technology to improve candidates’ experiences as they seek to continue their education.
“Their mobility is of utmost importance to the West African Examinations Council. With the application of technology, candidates can get their results within 45 days and we will continue to innovate. Nigeria is the largest member of WAEC with over 1.6 million candidates taking the exam. Definitely, Nigeria should lead the way ahead of other African countries.”
The HNO added that the new digital platform, was developed in conjunction with security technology providers, and is being implemented to streamline the issuance and verification of certificates from all over the world.
“The platform involves mobile and web-based application that is designed specifically for candidates, individuals, institutions and organisations. It holds powerful features that enable users to access, share, request and confirm certificates. It is also used to recover candidates’ forgotten/lost examination numbers.”
While expressing confidence about the ground-breaking digital certificate platform to revolutionise the way people interact with the WAEC certificate and drastically improve the mobility of talented students as they move forward in life, the HNO listed some of the benefits of the platform to include; generating and sharing certificates, security/data protection, portability, authenticity, improved confirmation processes, as well as printability.
“Universities, institutions and organisations can now enjoy a seamless, secure and fast confirmation process with the digital platform. The platform also allows for bulk confirmation of certificates at once. This saves valuable administration costs and time. Limitation experienced with the paper certificates is that it cannot be replaced as original certificates are only issued once. Going digital, your original certificate is now available on demand; and the risk of loss or damage is now eliminated,” Areghan stated.
The WAEC Digital Certificate Platform is available via www.waec.org.The application can be accessed on mobile and web platforms.