By George M.O. Williams
More female than male obtained niversity requirement and two females also emerged as the first- and second-best performing students respectively during the 2021/2022 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Sierra Leone.
This disclosure was made on Monday during the national broadcast of highlights of the WASSCE results at the State Television in Freetown.
The Minister of Basic and Senior Education, Dr. David Sengeh said that the top students passed all eight subjects offered with an average grade of 1.63.
He added that 186,695 results had been released to MBSSE and but the remaining were withheld citing that the number of students obtaining the benchmark of 5 credits in single sitting increased by 1, 863 % between 2018 and 2022.
Dr. Sengeh stated that the top schools that attained 100% pass rate has a benchmark of 5 credits with an average grade of 2.33, meeting the minimum requirement of university to direct university degree programmes.
He also noted that the number of students achieving direct university degree program entry requirement including a credit in English Language and Mathematics has increased to 1,781% with an increase in pass rate for individual papers of 64 % to 77% between 2018 and 2022.
Dr. Sengeh mentioned that in 2022 more than 108,000 students obtained the university requirement which is more than the previous five years combined, a performance he attributed to the strategy components initiated in the execution of the Free Quality Education (FQE) programme.
Sengeh emphasized that for the Government of Sierra Leone to have achieved a record-breaking pass rate it was due to the availability of school materials; non-payment of fees from parents; building hundreds of classrooms with thousands of furniture to ensuring a safer learning environment; Reviewed teaching curriculum and competitive engagement of teachers and the communities in the learning process.
In that regard, he added that Sierra Leone has seen an increase by 497 % in the number of candidates taking the WASSCE, adding that for the second year in a row there are more female students than male student who sat to the exams.
Top four candidates emerged from Kamboi (
Lebanese) International and Community Initiative Academy Secondary Schools in Kenema, and Providence International High School and Saline High School Freetown.
Dr. Sengeh recounted that at the Education Summit in New York, President Julius Maada Bio committed to sustain an investment of a minimum of 20% in the educational sector, and that Sierra Leone will reduce the number of out-of-school children in primary school by 2030.
He also mentioned that Sierra Leone will launch an alliance of foundational learning through which he hopes will cut down poverty in half. He committed to prepare students for their future by making the educational climate the central component at all level and set measurable targets for skills training and technical education.