By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Professor Alpha Tejan Wurie has announced the return of Preliminary Course programmes for people who wish to study courses in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) but do not have Credits or better in five subjects required to start the main course.
Speaking in an interview during a national tour at the Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology, the Minister said the number of students passing science subjects in schools was very small hence the need to review certain approaches.
“I called all the Vice-Chancellors and Principal to a meeting for us to see how we can address the situation. And one of their suggestions, which I have agreed to, is for us to start a Preliminary year in Science and Technology so those that may not have the five WASSCE [Credits] can come in and start off with four WACCE credits and do a preliminary year and when they upgrade themselves, they can now join the main course,” he said.
Another issue that came up during their meeting was that students who successfully completed their diploma programmes in the universities would be allowed to continue their degree programmes instead of going back to rewrite the WASSCE exams.
“Those that may have very high grades, let’s say 3.6, will be evaluated by the respective departments and sent to year two,” he said.
He went on to say that they were working on making university entry more flexible to increase access to tertiary education across the country. He added that university was not the only means to acquire a meaningful tertiary education but that there were technical and vocational institutes that provided such opportunities.
Speaking to Politico, the Director of Media, Alumni and International Relations at the University of Sierra Leone, Dr. Tonya Musa described the statement by the minister as a policy statement, and could not say much about it except that the university was yet to take a position on it.
Similarly, the Public Relations Assistant at the Njala University, Ayouba Koroma said the university was yet to have a position on the issue but that they should have a meeting on that with the ministry after which they would be out with a resolution.
Some students Politico spoke to, expressed delight about the programme, noting that because the university entry requirement had over the years been “so difficult” and with the West African Examination body not making things easier, many had resorted to examination malpractice in a bid to meet the university entry requirements.
However, some feel left out, given the fact that the opportunity will be limited to those in the sciences.
Christiana Vandy, an Arts student wanting to study Mass Communications, told Politico that the initiative was a good one and was hopeful that the government and the universities could extend it to other areas of study.
“Many people have dropped out of school after many years of chasing just one subject to meet the five subjects universities require. And the problem is it should not be in more than two exams. So you would have passed some subjects in one exam and in the other, you get some low grades,” she said.
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