By: Ilyasa Baa
The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) has unearthed the corrupt practices of some Principals who took monies from non-school-goers on the pretext that they are going to be allowed to take the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
According to the Ministry’s Spokesman, Bani Anthony, the Ministry found out that some Principals in government schools and those assisted by the government are involved in corruption by taking huge sums of money from people for exams the Government has already paid for. He revealed that when the electronics registration portal was shut down and reopened, these Principals used the opportunity to collect monies from those non-pupils that want to take the exams so will sit alongside those the government carters for in terms of payment of fees to the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC). He stressed that for quality assurance, the Ministry had done nationwide verification with schools to ascertain the number of candidates the Government pays for to take this year’s exam.
He said the Chief Education Officer at the Ministry had to intervene in the reopening of the portal noting that some schools did not show up because they have something fishy.
The schools that did not show up include the following: Agricultura Vocational Secondary School in Bo, Bombali District Council School in Makeni, Movement of Faith in Karene District, Living Rock Secondary School in the Western Urban,
Bond Wurie Secondary School in the urban, Our Lady in the Western Rural and so on.
It could be recalled that the number of those taking the WASSCE has catapulted since 2017 which registered 50,000 candidates that took the exam. In 2018, when Free Quality Education was launched by President Dr Julius Maada Bio, 80,000 took the exam whilst, in 2022, 206,000 were paid to write the WASSCE.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been invited by the MBSSE to look into the issue since corruption is suspected to have taken place. The ACC is expected to grind all others Principals that collected monies from people only to end up deceiving them that they are not going to take the exam.
The ACC is popular for its no-nonsense approach towards the FQE, some time back, its Commissioner, Francis Ben Kelfala had to parade teachers caught in examination malpractices before the Cotton Tree down Freetown. The ACC Scorpion Squad caught candidates spying at Moses Academy in Deep Eye Water, along the Waterloo highway red-handed.
The Proprietor of the Moses Academy, Ibrahim Turay together with others were whisked to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) but later released. After his release, he boasted that those that leaked information to the ACC were the ones that were sorry, “I have money to get my way out, he had said, adding that the community where his school is located is full of primitive people”.