By: Ilyasa Baa
As pupils are preparing to take this year’s West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Coordinator for the Free Quality Education (FQE) for the Western Rural District, Abdul Karim Sesay has called on Principals to upload their information to the portal before 31st March which is the deadline set by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) for all schools to submit details of their candidates who are going to take the exam.
He said failure to do the uploading from 20th to 31st March2023, would lead to serious consequences, especially for the candidates who are preparing to take the exam.
He said one of the challenges faced is that Principals are commercializing the FQE at some schools which he said is not good for the kids as well as for the system. He noted that Principals take money from parents over public exams which the Government is paying for all over the country
Sesay also called on parents to pursue bribery and corruption, blaming them that they don’t want to expose the Principals. He said the eradication of bribery in schools lies in the hands of the parents and guardians provided they are willing to talk.
He reiterated that the FQE has nothing to do with politics calling on people in the Western Rural District to put politics aside education. “When you destroy education, you destroy the entire nation”, he said, adding that no country can develop without education.
It could be recalled that the previous WASSCE was marred by high spate examination malpractices to the extent that the Anti-Corruption Commission had to intervene. Anti-graft squad caught candidates of Moses Academy in Deepea Water, along the Waterloo highway, red-handed spying while taking mathematics. The Proprietor of the school, Ibrahim Turay was whisked to the Criminal Investigation Department where an out-of-court settlement was done.