By Politico staff writer
Two hundred and six thousand, six hundred and ninety (206,690) pupils across Sierra Leone have registered to take the 2022 WASSCE Exams, according to the minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) citing the West Africa Examination’s portal.
Dr. David Moinina Sengeh in his Facebook post noted that within the Free Quality School Education (FQSE), every child in public school can attempt the exams at no cost to their parents but at a cost of over 5 million dollars to the government of Sierra Leone.
He added that the government has continued to expand access to public education every year and that they have continued to expand their budget as beneficiaries increase. ‘’We also see positive dividends as more of our children now transition into jobs and technical and higher institutions,’’ he said.
The Minister noted that there are about a dozen private schools mostly in the Western Area who have failed to register about 2,700 students and who are now running around trying to blackmail the government.
He said the portal was open to private schools since November 2021 and closed in early February 2022. He said he met with the Principals of Private schools whom he accused of not telling him the truth that they had not paid on time. He said that they had asked WAEC to open the portal for those schools which he said did, but had problems registering 9 of their candidates.
“If a school in Falaba and Foindu can register their students via an online portal, I see no excuse for those here in Freetown to have missed these deadlines,’’ he said.
He said it is a choice for parents to choose a private school for their children, but said it is their responsibility to ensure that the school administration registers and confirms with them that their children are registered for their exams.
He said the government has processes, and that opening the portal again months after the deadline means that they risk not being able to print and bring enough papers for the rest of the pupils, noting that they risk not planning for enough exam centres for kids.
He noted that some private school authorities have not been supportive in terms of releasing teachers to mark examination scripts, and also accused them of delaying the processes.
Minister Sengeh said that as examinations approaches, they will implement new mechanisms to ensure that the right pupils take the exams. He claimed of having heard stories of policemen, nurses, and other people all signing up to take the public exams at a cost to the government. He said they will register all class 5, JSS 2, SSS 2 candidates in public schools through their NCRA National ID Number when the process commences. He said, by next year if an individual’s National Identification Number (NIN) isn’t updated, they won’t be able to take the exams.
He pledged to transform the sector and revealed the challenges ahead. “It will be painful. We will be called names but we have no choice but to ensure our children can all access quality education,’’ he asserted.
Despite all efforts, Politico could not get any official from the Private School Association to react to the issues raised by the Minister against some of their members at Press time.
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