A step by step guide on how to get your WAEC digital certificate

Have you lost your WAEC certificate? Are you one of the people who sat for the WAEC exam from 1999 to date and haven’t collected your WAEC certificate? Technext has good news for you if your answer to one of these questions is yes.

WAEC has launched the WAEC digital certificate platform to help you access your certificate in minutes.

This article will explain the step-by-step process of getting your digital certificate and highlight likely challenges and possible solutions.  

About the new WAEC Digital Certificate 

There is a difference between a WAEC Statement of Results and a WAEC certificate.

When a student graduates from a secondary school, the school issues a WAEC Statement of Results with its letterhead, which can be used in the absence of the original copy of the WAEC certificate. 

This is because receiving one’s original WAEC certificate can take up to a year after the exams. So, now that we have a good idea of the difference between the WAEC statement of result and the certificate, let’s find out how to get your digital WAEC certificate.

WAEC has created an online platform where individuals can obtain their original WAEC digital certificate. This platform allows students and educational institutions to access, share, request confirmation, and even retrieve WAEC candidate numbers via desktop and mobile devices.

It also allows institutions and organisations to quickly and securely verify candidate certificates. 

Read Also: WAEC makes NIN compulsory for exam registration in 2022

How to get your WAEC Digital Certificate

Create an account

Visit waec.org via a web or mobile browser. The website has a very user-friendly and intuitive interface. Click the “Create Account” button in the top right corner of the screen.

There are two alternatives: choose “Certificate Access (Candidate)” and enter your contact information, including your phone number and email address, in the form provided.

Use a valid email address you can access easily. You must verify the account with a code mailed to you before the account can be activated.

When signing up, it is important that you provide your personal information exactly as it appears on the form of identification that you plan to use to apply. The name on the platform and the digital certificate need to match exactly. So, take your time and provide accurate information on all the forms.

Signing in

After the sign-up process, you can now log into the platform with your email address and password. To get the certificate, you will need to fill out another form where you will input information like Exam year, Exam type, and WAEC candidate number.  

For Exam type, there are three options: WASSCE for school candidates, WASSCE for private students 1 & 2.

For many people that have forgotten their candidate number, there is an option for you to retrieve it, but as stated earlier, it comes with a fee. To retrieve your lost candidate number, you must provide more personal information, including date of birth and sex.

After this, you will be charged 12 units (3,000 Naira) for successfully recovering your candidate number. The units are charged from the digital wallet on the app that is funded from your bank account. The candidate number is 10 digits; once you have gotten that, you can process getting your certificate.

Funding your wallet

The platform offers a digital wallet option where you can send money. The funds are converted into units that can fund all activities on the platform, like purchasing the WAEC digital certificate, retrieving the candidate number, etc.

When you want to fund the wallet, you need to type in how many units you want to buy and pay via card, bank transfer, USSD, and bank. There is a service charge attached to these transaction methods.

Once you have paid and it is approved, you can check your billing history to see the credit units.

Many have complained that the payments they made were not reflected as units on the platform. To solve this, you might want to log out and in again because it takes some time to reflect on your balance. 

Once your balance has been updated, you can begin making your purchase.

To get the WAEC digital certificate 

As long as there are enough units (30 units) to get your certificate, go back to the first form filled and click ‘access certificate.’ The next form that will pop up will require your BVN, typically the form of identification required.

Once the names on your ID, on the platform, and in your certificate match, you will be charged the 30 units, and your certificate will load in a few seconds.

Downloading/Sharing the certificate

After you have paid, the digital certificate is free to download to your mobile phone and saved on the platform for future viewing. However, sharing the certificate comes with a cost of 3,500 Naira (14 units). The option is mainly for people who wish to send it to an institution or organisation.

Say your proposed university asks for your WAEC certificate, all you need to do is click on the share icon on the dashboard, input the receiver’s email address, make payment, and it is sent. All you have to do is confirm with the receiver.

Other tips to know

The service is somewhat inferior and takes a long time to load into the certificate page. This is where a lot of people get frustrated. 

A message keeps popping up saying ‘service is temporarily unavailable,’ even though units are being deducted. But not to worry, if this happens, refresh the page to get your units back or try some other time. 

You might have to do this for quite some time before the process gets executed.

This major issue might be because this service is still developing. So, you must exercise patience.

Also, you must complete each form shown to you on the platform with the correct information, as any wrong information can prevent access to the certificate.

Additionally, you must verify your email address and phone number. The same number and email address cannot be used for another account.

Upon collecting the WAEC digital certificate, check for errors like name misspelt, gender mismatch or wrong date of birth.

Finally,

To lay a complaint, the platform has a section where individuals can raise a complaint ticket which will be sent to their support team. You can also reach them on their social media platforms. The platform also said that it is a 24-hour response rule.

NOTE: According to the WAEC Twitter handle, all withheld certificates cannot be accessed or confirmed on this platform.