The Executive Secretary of the Basic Education Commission in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Horacio Modupeh Nelson-Williams says the new 6-3-4-4 educational system has started this week replacing the 6-3-3-4 one.
Speaking to Politico he said there would be no school-based school-leaving exams known as WASSCE. ”They will take that exam ...in 2014”. Mr Nelson-Williams however said that he did not believe an additional one year alone would provide the magic wand to turn around the falling educational standards. He admitted that this is the time in peace time that Sierra Leone will not officially send candidates for a West African Exams Council (WAEC) exam. Following is the full interview: Politico: Mr. Nelson-Williams, could you start off by telling us about the current state of affairs in terms of the new secondary school calendar and why that has been considered necessary? Nelson-Williams: Well, the new secondary school calendar starts with the introduction of the 6-3-4-4 system which replaces the 6-3-3-4 system and that means that next year – 2013 – there will be no school based WASSCE exams – that is the West African Senior School Certificate Examination. They will take that exam – the school-based – in 2014. Politico: We know that this has come in the back of the recommendations of the Gbamanja Commission of Enquiry Report. But will this be the first time that Sierra Leone will go without sending candidates for the school-leaving exams? Nelson-Williams: Well, as far as I can remember this is the first at that level because sometime ago in the late 90s, the selective entrance was not done for one year because of the war. It was done a year after - I think – in 1997. But this is the first time we have this as far as I can recall. The first time we have school candidates not taking the senior school exam. Politico: And how prepared is the system in terms of accommodating this because it means that one classroom will be empty for a whole year; and has staffing been prepared for this? Nelson-Williams: Well, modalities are being put in place to solve that problem and we would even need to appoint more teachers – not only classroom space. We would need more teachers as well but modalities are being put in place because we need to study the needs of the system before finalizing the measures that we would take. Politico: Somebody would think all of that should have been prepared, classroom space provided, requisite number of teachers recruited before the system comes into effect. Nelson-Williams: Well, under normal circumstances these things should have been done but we must remember that this is the time for development in our country and we are doing several developmental activities in all the sectors simultaneously and you know that as far as education is concerned it is one of the priorities but it is not the top most priority of government. The top most priority is infrastructure and so that is why the plans for education have not been finalized as yet but we are on it. Politico: And can you cope in view of the new system and the fact that these things have not been put in place? Nelson-Williams: Umm… I strongly believe that we can cope… we can cope. Politico: And how much of an impact do you think this will have – will we see dividends being yielded in the coming 2-3 years or will it take a generation for that to manifest itself? Nelson-Williams: Well, there will be some dividends, yes, but I cannot predict the extent and the form it will take. For example, I was principal of the Prince Of Wales and at ‘A’ level, I allowed my students to take only three subjects, only the most exceptional students were allowed to take four or five. In fact, only one student was allowed to take five subjects and that is Dr. Mohamed Maddi Rogers who is a neurosurgeon now in London. But all the others took two to three subjects. And when the 6-3-3-4 system was introduced they made sure that WASSCE allowed students to take up to nine subjects and those subjects are at lower six level and the ‘O’ level examination was at fifth form level. So you see, if you are to take nine subjects and even those who went just one year after, took three subjects - most of them. And you say they should take nine and not all of them are brilliant you must expect very very poor results. So what has happened is that the Gbamanja commission of enquiry, having studied the problems in the system wisely suggested that these subjects must be reduced to seven. And with the reduction of the subjects there will be dividends of course. And also there are a number of students who take the examination who are not real school students so we are addressing that problem as well to ensure that only school candidates can take the WASSCE exams. When that happens there will be dividends. Politico: As a career educationist yourself, would you say that the problems besetting this level of education in Sierra Leone have to actually do with the insufficient number of years or the number of subjects as you have stated? Nelson-Williams: Well, there are a number of problems relating to that. We don’t have many teachers with the required competencies and a depth of knowledge to teach at that level, that is the fact of the matter. Politico: Not necessarily the number of years? Nelson-Williams: Not necessarily the number of years. Politico: And how is that being addressed – the fact of not having enough competent teachers? Nelson-Williams: Well, you see that is being addressed in a number of ways. We have increased the salary of teachers. Some teachers even have a hundred percent salary increase and when we consider it civil servants have not had any increase in salary but teachers have got increases in salaries ranging from fifty percent to hundred percent. So that is one of the ways we are addressing it. So as long as your appointment is approved by the ministry know that you will have a good salary. Even when I was a principal I did not have Le 800,000 a month. Some teachers who are not even principals are having Le 800,000 per month. Politico: Would you say therefore that you have the adequate number of teachers in the schools to take up this system or you will need more teachers? Nelson-Williams: Well, definitely we need more teachers because the educational system is expanding and we need more competent teachers to be in our schools. Politico: In view of the fact that the country will officially not be sending any candidates to take the WASSCE exams this year lot of people are saying that the kids are circumventing the process and are going to enter as private students and probably the risk exists that the SSS 4 classrooms might be empty when eventually they come into being because the kids will not want to add another extra year. Are you concern about this? Nelson-Williams: Well it will be good for them to take the exams as private candidates because they would have acquired the necessary knowledge to take that exam and a good many of them will pass that exam. Politico: Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having the additional fourth year in senior secondary school if the kids can circumvent it and just in SSS 3 they go ahead and sit the exams as private candidates? Nelson-Williams: No it won't. It won’t be because the majority of students need the extra year. You will see what has been happening in the last few years that the BECE results have been out very late sometimes in October or even in November. When results are out like that you have to give the principles time to conduct interviews. So by the time the pupils start the first term they only have about two to three weeks so they have lost a term in that respect. Also now the pupils have the tendency when they are in the final year when they have to take exams, the last term they don’t go to school at all. They stay at home. So I think that is a matter we have to handle. Not only we in the education sector but others who are out of the education sector. The pupils generally feel that if they attend private lessons during that time it will help but parents also have to help us in the education sector to ensure that pupils attend schools until the last day the school tells them not to attend school. Politico: The NPSE results are out. How would you characterise them this year? Nelson-Williams: Well, the results are the best we have ever had because we have got 75% success. In fact the percentage success is 75.2% . The only thing that I will comment is that the marks are not as high as some of the marks we are having in the previous years .The highest mark this year is 374. Some years back some pupils were having over 400 but now we are not having pupils with that kind of score. Politico: So how come you say it is the best? Nelson-Williams: It’s the best in terms of the number of pupils that passed in relation to the total number of pupils that took the exams. Politico: But you are saying that the grades have dropped some what? Nelson-Williams: Yes, well, the grades have dropped because of the fact that the exam is assessed on the basis of the general performance of the pupils. So if you have a cohort that has not got a significantly high marks it will affect the overall marks because these are not their real scores, these are statistical scores. They are worked on averages.... I’m pleased that this year we have a much better performance
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