Social media language is seeping into formal education in Ghana, the Principal Public Affairs Officer of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), Agnes Teye-Cudjoe has revealed.

Teye-Cudjoe said Wednesday that some Senior High Students who wrote the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were found to have used fanciful shorthand in their writings.

She cited an example where a student wrote “b4” as “before” in a script.

Teye-Cudjoe told private FM station, Asempa, that such social media influences are a contributing factor to the failure of some candidates in the examination.

A total of 68,062 out of 242,162 students who sat for the final examination are eligible for admission to tertiary institutions.

The figures represent 28.11 per cent of candidates who obtained grades A1 to C6 in at least six subjects, including English Language and Mathematics (Core).

Out of the total number who sat the examination, 126,921 representing 52.41 per cent, were males, while 115,241 representing 47.59 per cent, were females.

The examination was conducted for 809 participating schools.

A total of 1,447, representing 0.59 per cent of the candidates who registered, did not write the examination. A further 321 candidates who sat for the 2014 examinations have been cancelled after being found culpable of examination malpractices.

“Following reports of examination malpractices and conclusion of investigations, the entire result of 321 candidates have been cancelled, while 1, 994 had their subjects results cancelled,” a WAEC statement said.

It also indicated that results of candidates presented by 36 schools have been withheld, pending investigations.

“The withheld results would be released as soon as the Council concludes its investigations.”