Honourable Abdul Karim Kamara, Member of Parliament for Kambia District, has called for the intervention of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio and his government regarding the upcoming West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year if the ministry of Basic education cannot resolve the WASSCE saga .
During his deliberation at Parliament, he requested for governement to facilitate a second Batch WASSCE Examination with Ghana in August to secure the future of the deprived school pupils.
In a video statement, Honourable Kamara revealed a shocking revelation that over one hundred and fifty thousand students across Sierra Leone may be unable to sit for the WASSCE due to the failure of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to submit Continuous Assessment Scores (CASS) for these students.
Meanwhile, In an event that took place on the 12th of April this year at the Dynamic International School off UN Drive Freetown, the heads of private schools threatened to boycott the 2024 WASSCE if WACE fails to open the Continuous Assessment Scores (CASS) portal for all their students to register for the 2024 WAEC exams.
Talking to the media, Rev. Victor O. M Davies, the Principal of Dynamic Secondary School, said that the National Union of Private Schools (NUPS) has resolved that they will not take part in the 2024 WAEC exams if their students are not allowed to take the exams. He continued that they will not allow WAEC to use their schools as centers to commit exams. He cited that as, a union, they plan to employ all the necessary routes in calling on WAEC to allow their students to sit the exams. He said, “After exhausting all the functional avenues, the union will then take court action against WAEC if our students are not allowed to take the 2024 exams. He summoned Civil Societies and International Partners to come to their support in guaranteeing that all of the affected students take the exams, summing up that restraining students from taking public exams is a total violation of their rights to access education.
Michael A. Tibbi, the Principal of Modern High School, said that WACE has denied his school from uploading the Continuous Assessment Scores (CASS). He said that the introduction of the new policy is good but has prevented many students from taking the exams. He urged the government to engage WAEC and called on the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) to make the CASS portal easy and accessible for principals. He said the new policy is new to the principals and called on WAEC to endeavor to teach principals how to upload CASS mark. Spcaking at the event, the Head Girl of Modern High School, Micahella Kamara said the new policy has seriously affected students.”We are psychologically affected by the new policy because many of us are not going to write the 2024 WAEC exams,” she said.
She disclosed that many students have abandoned schools, noting that teenage pregnancy will become the order of the day if the issue is not addressed. She called on the government to come to their aid and engage the appropriate authorities for the way forward. She said that many students will become drug addicts if the issue is not addressed.
