By Abass Jalloh
The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Dr. David Sengeh, has urged parents of students who are to be admitted to secondary school in the coming academic year to desist from paying a bribe to have their kids gain admission.
“Try to not bribe a school to gain admission. Do not pay, you will also be corrupt,” he cautioned, in one of his social media posts.
The minister stated that parents should report to government authorities any school or official who illegally asks for money for admission. “Call Anti-Corruption; call the police and call 8060 for free,” he advised.
In the aspect of rejection of a student, the minister highlighted the difficulty the student who might have scored above the cut-off point for the second choice school might face because there are some schools that are oversubscribed with many more students who chose it as a first choice school could also have scored above the 230.
He said if a student chose an oversubscribed school other than the first choice, it is impossible for them to get admission there, noting that there are other equally deserving students who got the place.
“Next year, ensure your kids choose only one oversubscribed school as the first choice; other choices must be in undersubscribed schools,” he urged.
He added: “There are oversubscribed and undersubscribed schools. In the former, many more people choose to attend there than there are seats. In the latter, there are more seats available than students who chose to attend there.”
The minister stated that in terms of admission candidates were given the opportunity to select three schools in order of preference.
He explained: “We first check if you got into your first school, and if not, then second. If not, then third. If you don't get automatic admission into your third school, then we place you into a school that has space closest to where you attended primary school. The assumption is that since you could get to that primary school, then you might be able to get to a nearby secondary school too.”
On how a student gains admission, Dr.Sengeh said the student's NPSE aggregate is what gives them the option to be interviewed. “Then schools review your continuous assessment and others give you simple reading/comprehension tests. After you go through all of this, you are admitted,” he continued.
He also noted how a student might have earned a good score and still cannot get a placement, saying: “This is possible if you selected a private school (like Grammar School or International) as your first choice. We do not place students who elected to attend a private school in our system.”
The results of the National Primary School Examination (NPSE) were announced on Monday 11th July 2022 by MBSSE. From the 161,524 candidates that took this year’s exam across Sierra Leone, 81% passed, the highest pass percentage recorded according to the minister.
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