By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Education Department, Freetown City Council on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, commenced monitoring of the ongoing National Basic Examination Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Western Area Urban District.
About 126,496 pupils (61,380 male and 65,116 female) from 1,833 schools across the country – are writing the BECE 2024, which commended on July 29, 2024.
The monitoring commenced at the Bishop Johnson Memorial School, Henry Ferguson Municipal School, and the Annie Walsh Memorial School AWMS in Freetown.
During the observation, the team observed that some of the students came late to write the exam which resulted in the delay in its commencement.
Mrs. Laura Bangura, the lead supervisor at the Bishop Johnson Memorial Secondary Schools exam center where Henry Ferguson Municipal Schools is also taking the BECE, explained that the poor communication and bad weather resulted in delay in the commencement of the exams. She said that the examination should have started at 9:00am and ended at 11:00am but did not start until 10:00am.
She said that some students and teachers reported that they heard an announcement on the radio shifting the time to 12:00 noon, giving students a reason to be late for the exam.
The atmosphere was peaceful and there were enough question papers and answer sheets for all students writing the exam.
About 654 students from two schools wrote the exam within the Bishop Johnson center on Wednesday.
Deputy Education Officer 1, FCC, Collins C. Pearce explained that the relational behind the monitoring which formed part of their mandate is to ensure standards in examination.
He said that monitoring is also part of efforts to complement the government’s effort in ensuring quality education.
“From our monitoring so far, everything is peaceful and there is no cause for alarm, and we know the exam will be as good as it should be,” Pearce said during the observation.
The BECE is a crucial examination for pupils in Sierra Leone, marking the completion of their basic education and opening doors to higher educational opportunities.