By Hassan Alimamy Kamara
Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Schools Education, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, in the release of the 2022 West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, has confirmed that this year’s results are the best ever; and that 61% pass rate was recorded.
He added that there is a remarkable pass rate for English Language and Mathematics. He also said 206,000 students registered for the examination but 186,000 sat the examination; he said an increase of 179% between 2018- 2022.
Dr Sengeh continued that over one hundred and thirteen thousand (113,000) students who have university requirements can be admitted if they choose to. He furthered that the percentage of those with five credits in their first sitting has increased to one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. Explaining further the pass rate year in and year out, he mentioned that in 2016 the country’s pass rate was 16%; in 2017 it increased to 29%, and in 2019 the percentage reduced to 18%.
The minister gave this analysis on Thursday 29th September 2022, at the weekly national press briefing at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Youyi Building Freetown. He said the performance rate of individuals per paper is 77%.
The situation in 2019 did not improve, said Dr. Sengeh. As low as 6% pass rate was recorded, and the minister justified that it was a result of the malpractice being cracked down. However, he said it does not imply that everything stopped, said every year everywhere malpractices do take place, but said those have been minimized. Coming to the effect of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) scorpion squad in 2022, also had a low record pass rate of 5%. In addressing the issues of malpractices, he said a communique on malpractice was had; changing the invigilators, reviewing the curriculum, and a lot more other changes, had that to reflect on 2021 with a pass rate of over 40%; and of course the best ever in 2022 with 61% pass rate, he explained.
Keeping the sector more equipped, Dr. Sengeh stated that the Ministry has with 27,000 teaching guides, trained 22,000 teachers, and disbursement over 3.1 million books to school pupils both in the primary and secondary levels. He added that with the Free Quality Education (FQE), over one million pupils have been added to the classroom, and he confirmed that most of them are girls. Allaying the fear of those who could not get university requirements, he stated that “nor to all wae sit WASSCE for go college,” he said with justification that there are other quality courses without spending four years in the university.
He continued that it is their wish to see a great number of engineers, doctors, auto mechanics, and many more, but said to balance the ratio; government will establish more technical institutions in the country. With all these, he also said 60% of university students are paid for by the government through the Sierra Leone Grant- in- aid (SLG). With regard to the withheld WASSCE results, he assured that they will be released after getting them reviewed for suspected examination malpractices.
