By Minkailu Kebbie – Intern- FBC
Pupils of different Senior Secondary schools across the country, took to the streets of Freetown on Wednesday 19th October 2022, expressing their dissatisfaction and discontent with regards to the difficult challenges that center around obtaining the National Identification Number (NIN), as required for both Junior and Secondary school pupils.
According to the government of Sierra Leone, the National Identification Number (NIN) is a unique number which identifies one for life and it is used to match you with your biometric data and other details in the National Identity Database during verification and authentication.
Earlier this month, the government through the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), issued a statement that getting the NIN is a must for every student/pupil and that must be adhered to if you want to write any public exam or enter into any educational institution in Sierra Leone.
However, getting the NIN has not been an easy task for students/pupils all over the country as most of the students have abandoned their classes, whereas some are yet to complete university registration simply because of the difficulty that surrounds the NIN, as it is the only prerequisite to write this year’s WAEC exams and enter the university.
Pupils from different Secondary schools have expressed their grievances that the process is not in the correct order – pupils are seen standing in the sun for the rest of the day without being attended to, which is very wrong and the government is bending on the process.
There has been serious commotion between pupils and the NCRA workers at the center for the past days over the registration process. This has led pupils to take to the streets expressing their disgruntlement. “This process is very wrong and it is time consuming, the WASSCE syllabus is very wide and we have just two terms this academic year” John Sesay from Model Secondary School, said.
In an interview with some of the pupils, they affirmed that they have been faced with lots of constraints for the past days battling for a space in long queues.
“I have been visiting the center for the past three days but to no avail, and we are currently taking our first term test”, Aminata Kabbah, a student from Elevation High school told Owl Press.
According to Isata Kallon, from Methodist Girls High School, she confirmed that she is confused as to why government did not take the process to their various schools. “The center is very small to accommodate all of us. The queues we form are very long, the system is crooked and the NCRA workers haven’t been able to help with the situation. She confirmed that they have been dubiously collecting money from pupils and other workers to attend to them quickly and this has caused a delay in the movement of the queues”, she said.
Edward Koroma, from Richard Allen Secondary School said that they were not even informed about the payment for the process. He affirmed that it all came to them as a surprise on reaching the center – and most of the pupils said they are coming from long distances to the NCRA.
“To pay NLE 15 for this process is a surprise to some of us, we were not informed about any payment – I’m coming from all the way Calaba Town in the eastern part of Freetown and I have spent all my money on transport fares. There is no money left on me”, he said.
James Sesay, another student from Model Secondary School said that government should have done a school to school registration which could help NCRA to easily collect the data they want and this would help to save time and minimize the tremendous constraints and sufferings pupils are going through.
“As it is now, we have been suffering in this hot burning sun, government should have easily taken this process to our various schools and collect the data they want. It would have been a lot easier than this way. This will help to shrink our sufferings and it will save time”, he said.
They urged the government of Sierra Leone to look into the matter and make swift intervention for them to be able to complete their registration process and be more focused on their studies.
Credit: Owl Newspaper
