By Mabinty M. Kamara
Parents and guardians across Freetown have applauded the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh for an innovative idea which enabled them to electronically access the National Primary School Examination results at no cost, before reaching the schools.
The platform was created by the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Examination in partnership with the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the National Telecommunication Commission and telecommunication service providers, to ensure transformative learning.
This according to many is the first of its kind in the country’s educational history and that has gone a long way to ease the burden of purchasing scratch cards to check results since it normally takes time before they get to the schools from the time of their release by the ministry.
Speaking to Politico, Momoh Turay expressed joy at the innovative idea of the minister, noting that it just saved many the Le. 65,000 WAEC scratch card payment they would usually make for not waiting for the results to get to schools.
“This initiative is very impressive. I’m happy for this man. If they could do this for all public examinations including the WASSCE, it will be lifesaving because things are hard and at the same time people want their children to learn. So you go all out to pay the bills involved,” he said.
The Minister who doubles as the Chief Innovation Officer at the DSTI in Sierra Leone, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh on his Facebook page noted that the move is to demonstrate the power of innovation and technology in modern learning. “It can democratize access. Today, the government of Sierra Leone has launched a ground breaking solution making all exams scores available to our children nationwide within 24hrs of releasing the NPSE results,” the post reads.
The process can be accessed through the Orange and Africell mobile network by texting ‘Result’ to the short code 468.
Releasing the result on Friday 23rd July 2021 through the national Broadcaater, Dr Sengeh noted that 161,191 (One hundred and sixty one thousand, one hundred and ninety one) candidates took the examination out of which 79,605 (Seventy-nine thousand six hundred and five) males, and 82,086 (eighty two thousand and eighty six) females from 4,295 (four thousand two hundred and ninety- five) primary schools, 25 of which he said were in Guinea, compared to the 146, 6049 (one hundred and forty-six thousand six hundred and forty nine ) overall candidates in the previous year.
He added that the highest aggregate score for 2021 is slightly below the aggregate score of 2020. “However 124,542 comprising of 62,024 boys and 62,518 girls passed the NPSE in 2021,” he said.
The overall pass rate for this year was 77.6% from 74.2 in 2020 and male pass rate at 77.9% and female 76.2. More girls he said entered and passed the NPSE in 2021.
The top candidate for this year’s NPSE is a male with an aggregate of 354. Meanwhile, the top three candidates for last year were all girls.
It took the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) 56 days from the time of the exams on the 28th May 2021 to the release date, days away from the first pronounced date by the Minister.
However, the Minister noted that the delay was a result of some schools not being able to provide continuous assessment grades for their candidates on time.
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