By Mohamed A. Kabba
21 January, 2021 (232News)
FREETOWN – In a bid to achieve the goals of the Free Quality Education of the Government, all players in the education sector are required to demonstrate high level of willingness and integrity to promote zero tolerance for illegal admission and examination irregularities.
It is as result that, the ACC Southern Region Office in Bo engaged the Conference of Principals (CPSS), the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC), Basic Education Commission (BEC), Inspectors of Schools and Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union (SLTU) to discuss the current position of the Commission in curbing corrupt practices and irregularities in schools.
The engagement took place on Thursday, 12th January, 2021 at the Government Secondary School Library in Bo.
Speaking on the need for effective monitoring and law enforcement to enhance a corrupt-free system and improved standards in schools, the Regional Manager of the ACC, Musa Jawara, said acts of illegal admission and charges are strongly prohibited and called on all education stakeholders to show the required leadership.
He specifically called on Principals of schools to institute integrity measures in all admission processes for candidates being admitted in senior secondary level.
The Commission, he said, will take swift and robust actions against those who attempt to levy extra charges during admission as provided under the Anti-Corruption Act 2008 as Amended in 2019. “This is in order to deepen sanity in all admission processes and examination exercises,” he noted.
The Principal of the Milton Comprehensive Secondary School in Bo, Mathew L. James, stressed that the decision for Principals and Teachers to invigilate their own schools was a recipe for examination malpractices in the 2020 WASSCE Exams. He therefore called on the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to revert to the former policy employed in the monitoring of all external exams.
In his submission, the Regional Coordinator of BEC, Hassan Y. Bangura, underscored the need for overarching systems review and law enforcement in the education sector.
Speaking on measures to further prevent examination malpractices and irregularities in public exams, the Regional Social Secretary of CPSS Aruna O. Kamara, who also doubles as the Principal of the UMC School in Njagboima, Bo, recommended that parents and pupils caught in such practices should refund all fees and expenditures undertaken by the Government.
Such tough measures, he emphasized, will enable parents to provide effective monitoring mechanisms that will debar their children from involving in examination malpractices and irregularities.
Deputy Director of MBSSE in Bo, Joseph M.B. Sesay said, the Ministry will address the gap between the Lesson Planned Manual and the WAEC syllabus, something he pointed as a huge challenge for pupils in external exams. Michaela Michael, Principal of Christ the King College Junior Secondary School also buttressed the point, noting that such disparities should be addressed in order to restore some sanity, probity and integrity in public exams. In winning this fight, integrity truly matters she concluded.
