By Mohamed Kamara
The Sierra Leone West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has reaffirmed its stance in the fight against corruption by stating that no examiner would be allowed to mark question papers at home.
Instead, all examinerswill have their answers sheets corrected in conference rooms under the direct supervision of WAEC and other stakeholders. This is a mechanism to discourage the rampant examination malpractices experience in recent years.
This was revealed by Mr. Musa Tholley, an examiner of WAEC for the just concluded 2021 WASSCE examinations. Mr. Tholley has expressed fears that the release of WAEC results may not be timely as anticipated, adding that owing to the huge number of students for the 2021 WAEC Exams. He further stated that the delay is also as a result of schools sending high number of candidates that is above the school register. He said this has been detected by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education and 53 schools have been investigated by the Anti- Corruption Commission for flouting the rules and are asked to return all expenses to government.
Mr. Tholley said Mr. Dr. David Moinina Sengeh has limited the number of pupils in public schools to 400 per class. He said Dr. Sengeh’s decision will now empower private schools to admit more pupils despite the high school fees paid. He said more recruitment of examiners is needed. For 2022 WASSCE, Mr. Tholley is urging the ministry to recruit more examiners to expedite the process of marking examinations papers on time.
