Monrovia – Liberians are expressing mixed reactions following the cancellation of the 12th graders exams due to an unexpected theft of the exams which were scheduled to be conducted this week.
The decision by West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Liberia office came after some unknown persons at the Konola SDA Mission in Margibi County broke into the office of the school’s principal and made away with a booklet each of the entire test package.
Jestina Yormie, a St. Peter’s High School student blamed the school authority and WAEC for incident.
‘WAEC and the School should have a proper security mechanism put in place to always address such issues,” the student said
Aloysius the, a parent lamented that the situation confirms the messy educational system President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been talking about.
“Why always Liberia”, he said. Teh Aloysius added that the ugly situation will now put more financial burden on the country especially when Liberia is facing Economic constraints.
Mark Paye, an employee at the Civil Service Agency says he thinks that the educational sector is experiencing a great challenge and not a messy one as claimed by others. Paye says there is need for robust reform and monitoring process of the entire sector to ensure that all of the challenges are addressed to the letter.
Nancy Dugbo, a parent, decried: “It is a total setback”. Dugbo indicated in a sad mood: “Why at this time. I am really sad by this news and it has sent another bad signal about our Country to the outside world. “Both WAEC and Konola Administration must be blame for this troubling news”, she said.
Though in-house investigation is said to be ongoing, FrontPageAfrica has gathered that some of the students linked to the incident are now behind bars.
FPA has also gathered that a 17-member delegation of WAEC officials have left the country to ensure the reprinting of the test.
The test has meanwhile been rescheduled for June 27th, 2016. WAEC’s test leaks have been an old age-old issue with students, some WAEC officials and Schools Administrators link to theft in the past.
Julius Konton, FPA Staff Writer