Monrovia – In the wake of disappointments being expressed in the West African Examination Council Liberia Chapter for administering what seems to be a “strange tests”, WAEC says dishonesty of examiners is a factor affecting the exam process.

Report by Willie N. Tokpa, willie.tokpa@frontpageafricaonline.com

Over the weekend, the Superintendent of the Soltiamon Christian School System, Pastor Solomon G Joah, expressed disappointment in WAEC for several irregularities.

Joah noted this is hampering the smooth conduct of the West African Senior Secondary School Examination or WASSSE.

He said constant intimidation and harassment of students of his institution by examiners remain the order of the day for this years’ public examination.

Joah told reporters that instead of WAEC improving its system to create a fair examination process, it has turned out to be worst for the 2018 WASSCE Examination with examiners fully involved with fraud.

“I am one of those who like the standard test for the nation, but sadly the national side is not doing well at all. This year we were hoping that it would be better, but it has become worst. The plotter and examiners are in the examination hall photocopying and answering those questions. And when our students talked they say, allow us to do our jobs,” Joah said.

These examination malpractices on the part of WAEC, according to him, were made evidence when students from his institution were threatened by an examiner assigned at the Williams V.S. Tubman High for reporting discrepancy.

Unfortunately, he maintained, WAEC is yet to take measures against these examiners who were reported by the Soltiamon Christian School System.

Joah expressed confidence that his students would better perform in the WASSCE Examination but expressed dismay over acts that would distract them.

“Any high school should pass any high school test and this is what we have been doing here. And that’s why all our children are passing,” Rev. Joah noted.

“Sadly sometimes, we don’t score the division number one and those people who are not to score division number one, score division number one. Perhaps, there are yellow papers passing all over corners here because we have intercepted some.”

Moreover, Joah is concern about WAEC being tight-lipped over threats against his students for reporting other students who were spotted cheating (spying) during the exams.

But WAEC Boss Dale G. Gbotoe told FrontPage Africa over the weekend that he is aware of some malpractices being carryout at some examination canters.

“The plotter and supervisors are working against us. They can take one copy of the test, answer it and placed the pamphlet in the bathrooms where students will go and get it easily. The exam is such that it is not possible for us at WAEC to be all over the place at the same time,” Gboto said.

In addition to irregularities on the part of examiners, Gbotoe said the inability of schools to register their students when the fees had been clear by government, booklets being unaccounted for by supervisors and students bent on cheating as challenges facing the conduct of the national exams.

One test examiner, name withheld, was arrested in the Barnesville, Dry Rice Market area. He was caught in alleged examination malpractice.

The plotter according to the WAEC boss, is currently in police custody and is expected to be forwarded to court for allegedly possessing WASSCE pamphlet when the test was yet to be administered.

He questioned the credibility of some supervisors assigned at examination hall, while recounting an incidence where a student was caught with an exam paper prior to the distribution of the questioners, but the assigned supervision denied being a part of the scam.

“We sent an official from our head office to one of the centers and he caught a female student with the test pamphlet when it had not been distributed and the supervisor said ‘no; no, it is not from here, maybe the girl took it from elsewhere.’ How will you be a supervisor and don’t check the students coming into the hall,” Gbotoe said.

He also shifted blames on school administrators, whom according to him, had advocated for their students to sit the exams in familiar terrains.

The WAEC boss has, in the same time, noted that he is not disappointed about complaints from students that the WASSCE Examination is though.

According to him, it is the first of its kind for Liberian students to officially take the examination and might not get adjusted quickly.

“I am not being disappointed if a child tells me that he has not seen this thing before, because he/she has not being exposed to it. But that is telling us that we have some problem in our educational sector. I am not expecting too much from this first test; I am expecting much from next year’s exam but the third year, you will see that our schools will improve,” he said.

Monrovia – Some high school administrators and students are raising concerns over the possibility of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) refunding money paid as registration for the regional exams.

Report by Willie N. Tokpah – willie.tokpah@frontpageafricaonline.com 

They are making the request following President George Weah’s announcement during his address to the Legislature that his administration would the payment of WASSCE fees for all 12 Graders in the country. 

The President’s goodwill came after many students had already paid their fees to sit the most prestigious regional exams. 

These students had complained of difficulties in getting their fees paid ahead of the deadline and that the sum was too exorbitant.

Some said they borrowed money to make the payment base on agreement to pay back. 

The WAEC has, however, told FrontPage Africa it would refund the payment of fees to various school administrators when government completes the final payment, which is expected at the end of February 2018. 

“We have indicators and we have people informing us that the government will make good their payment.”

“We are going to refund the fees, every single amount they have deposited into our own accounts but with a condition, we are not going to refund today, we are going to refund once government makes good her promise,” Gbotoe said. 

Administrators of three schools in Paynesville city have told FrontPageAfrica they are under pressure from students who are demanding refunded following the President’s address. 

School authorities are currently engaging the examination council for the refund of fees to various institutions, said Samuel Kofi Jones, administrator of Kalita High School. 

Dada Drapper of Patmelia Academy School System in Paynesville city said the students are praising the president for paying their fees but others who have already paid are now raising reservations. 

“Since the pronouncement, bulk of them are now engaging us on the possibility of getting back their money, and I think it would be important that WAEC refund registration fees given to them,” Drapper said. 

Godfray Mulbah of the Paynesville Central Academy said the issue of refunding WASSCE fees is critical and should be handled probably. 

“Some students’ payment was done by the school and WAEC should pay back to schools rather than students,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Dale G. Gbotoe, Head of WAEC national office, has confirmed receipt of US$200,000 from the new government. 

Mr. Gbotoe said, the amount is an initial payment of a total US$2.1 million promised by the new administration to underwrite the exam fees for approximately 35,000 senior high candidates. 

According to WAEC, the estimated number of students has increased to 3,000 more than the total number who sat the exams last year. 

“The initial arrangement was that government will make an initial payment of US$200,000 but we were told not to make public announcement until after the inauguration,” Gbotoe said, adding the negotiation was made following the slow pace in payment of fees by candidates of various high schools in Liberia. 

He said a before the President pronouncement little over 1,000 students were finding it difficult to complete their payment, but 17,738 candidates had already completed by then. 

At the same time, some students who spoke to FrontPageAfrica have hailed the government and said the decision is “gateways to enable all students participate in the regional examinations”. 

Samettea Ballie, a female student of the Paynesville Central Academy, said she was struggling to raise fund to make the payment until President Weah made the announcement. 

“I am so thankful to God because my parents earlier told me they don’t have money to pay my WASSCE fee,” she said. “I walk from area to area including CDC Headquarters and there was no place to get money for my fee.” 

‘I felt very bad because my father is not working and my mother is selling but cannot get good profit, so she could not afford to pay the fee, I had no hope to get money anywhere so I decided to sit and wait for next year’s exam. When I heard Weah’s pronouncement about paying 12 graders’ WASSCE fees, I was happy until I cry. I want to tell President Weah thanks, only God can pay him.” 

Another student, Smith Slobert praised Weah’s administration for the decision, and called on WAEC to refund his money. 

Said Slobert: “We are grateful to President Weah for listening to our cry and we also wish that he continues this for others who will follow us, but there is a need that WAEC refund our registration fees we paid to them for the exam.”

Monrovia – President George Weah has announced that fees for the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) will be waived for 12th graders at private and public schools.

President Weah made the announcement at his State of the Nation address on Monday, January 29, 2018, stating that he had previously made a promise that the “government will absorb the WAEC fees for all 12th graders” and remains committed to that promise. 

“My government has already started to disburse these fees by committing an initial amount of US$200, 000,” the President said. 

Accordingly, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), in consultation with the Ministry of Education, has extended the deadline for registration for the 2018 exams.

The new and final deadline is February 13, 2018. Any school failing to register its pupils by this deadline will be responsible for paying the exam fees for those students. 

The Ministry is directing all principals and school administrators to immediately register their students through WAEC’s online portal.

Schools will be able to register their students without needing to make any payments. 

Schools that have already submitted WASSCE fees to WAEC should expect those payments to be refunded once the Government of Liberia fulfills its remaining financial obligation to WAEC. 

The Ministry further urges all schools that have not yet registered their students to desist from collecting fees from students.

Monrovia – At least two high School principals and one 12 graders have expressed excitement over latest decision by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to extend the registration of the 2018 exams for 12 and nine graders by 15 days.

Report by Willie N. Tokpah – willie.tokpah@frontpageafricaonline.com

WAEC Liberia Chapter on Wednesday, January 10, extended its registration deadline to January 30, 2018 for 12 and nine graders, who are opting to sit the years’ exams and have not registered.

The Council reached the decision following numerous pleads from parents and guidance, who complained of facing financial constraints and that the previous deadline for registration was so jamming for them.

“Due to numerous appeals from the public, the West African Examinations Council, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, has extended the deadline for registration for the 2018 exams.”

“The new deadline is now January 30, 2018,” WAEC said in a press statement.

According to some parents, Liberia’s prevailing economic condition has created hardship and they could not get the required fees for registration in time.

WAEC previously sets January 15, 2018 as deadline for its examination registration, but some parents said they could not meet up with that deadline due to in part, increase in fees.

WAEC increased its fees for 12 graders from L$3,500 [US$27 at current official exchange rate of L$127 to US$1 (Street rate LD$130) this academic school year to US$60 for the pending 2018 exams.

This is due in part because WAEC is transitioning this year from its traditional 9-course tests to the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which administers the same nine tests, in addition to several others.

This test is administered over a longer time than the one-week duration used in time past.

However, WAEC L$2,350 fee for nine graders remains the same for this year’s exams as that category of students are not sitting the new form of examination.

Since the increase in the fees for 12 graders, parents with more than one child have been complaining over what they say is an astronomical leap.

At the same time, self-supported 12 graders believed US$60 is not a small amount to get in a country, where most of its citizens live on less than one US dollar per day.

The complaints from parents and others also led to several 12 graders seeking support from President-elect George Weah just before the Presidential runoff election.

Senator Weah was magnanimous enough to pay the fees for at least 2,000 12 graders in Montserrado County, which he represents in Liberian Legislature. 

This extension by WAEC is being welcomed by school administrators and others.

The principal of the Patmelia Academy High School in the Pipeline Road Community, Paynesville, Dada Drapper, told FrontPage Africa that the extension of registration deadline is a welcomed news, as some 12 graders are self-supported.

According to Drapper, most of the 12 graders in his school are yet to do their registration, hoping that they or their parents can use the extension to register.

Out of the 220 12 graders at Patmelia Academy, Drapper said only 55 have registered for the tests. 

According to him, this isn’t unique to his school alone.

“There are many students and parents out there who don’t have the financial might to register themselves or their children. I hope that this deadline will encourage them to do so,” he said over the phone.

Mr. Godfray Mulbah Jr., proprietor of Paynesville Central Academy High School Annex-Three in Neezoe Community said WAEC is constraint to extend the registration because of “very slow pace in the registration process.”

Mulbah said WAEC is yet to meet its targeted number of students for the exams since the increase in fees was announced.

“The reason they went that route is that more schools are not pulling in and the process is very slow, so they are under constraint to extend the registration.

12 graders are not paying the WASSCE fee and ninth graders are not paying the WAEC fees as such the deadline cannot hold,” Mr. Mulbah said.

Mulbah noted that WAEC is surely depending on high schools to do registration for their operations and they cannot afford to lose huge revenue used for processing the 2018 examination.

Unlike Patmalia Academy, the failure of parents to meet up with the registration fees, compelled his institution to handle the payment of their students.

With the extension, he hopes parents and self-supported students will be able to come in to register.

Twelfth grader Augustus Fanga of John Lewis United Methodist School, Duport Road, Paynesville, told this newspaper that the latest decision by WAEC to extend the registration process is welcoming.

Student Fanga said his parents are yet to do his WASSCE registration because of hardship and financial constraints.

“Each time I asked my parents if they have done my registration, they tell me no, they are still looking for money to do that.”

“They can tell me that the money has increased to US$60. My mother sells in the market and my father is a private school teacher. They keep telling me that they have plenty expensive on their heads,” he said.

He hopes that the extension of the registration from the 15th of January to 30th will enable his parents to get it done.

In November 2017, WAEC-Liberia boss Dale G. Gbotoe told a local radio outside Monrovia that the fee is being perceived by parents as exorbitant because government had been undertaking the task of paying examination fees for both 12 and 9th graders in public schools.

“Because the government was paying for all the candidates that sat the exam in time past, parents were not shouldering that responsibility,” Gbotoe stated.

He further stated that the fees being charged for this academic year’s WASSCE examination is lesser than what was being charged over the past four years and there was no need for complaining.

According to him, since 2013, fees charged by the council for WASSCE has remained US$75 and had been administered as a pilot project but the 2018 fee is now reduced to US$60.

Monrovia – The Ministry of Education (MoE) says it welcome organization willing to assist in relieving the burden of West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) fees from students families but warned that the correct process for doing so is to coordinate with the West African Examination Council (WAEC), which administers the exam.

According to MOE in a release, up to date, the Ministry is not aware of an agreement between any entity and the WAEC to do so.

About the Senior Certificate Exams the Liberia Senior High School Certificate Examination (LSHSCE) was introduced in 1988 as a means of preparing Liberia to join the other four West African Examinations Council (WAEC) countries in 1996 to administer a common examination, WASSCE.

Unfortunately, Liberia could not participate in WASSCE in 1996 due to the civil war.

In a release the M0E says there has been no change in who pays for the senior high exam.

According to the MOE it has previously only subsidized the Liberia Junior High School Certificate Examination (LJHSCE) fees, and it continues to do so.

The Ministry However said the cost of the Liberia Senior High School Certificate Examination (LSHSCE) had always been undertaken by families of students.

“Now that the LSHSCE is being replaced by the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which is a much more comprehensive exam carried out over five weeks rather than five days, families will continue to be responsible for the majority of the cost.

“The Ministry provides a 25% subsidy for the cost of the WASSCE: Students’ families are charged US$60 for the exam, with the government paying the remaining US$20.

While the Ministry would like to be in a position to waive all fees for senior high school students sitting the exam, its significant budget constraints mean that unfortunately it is not possible for it to do so at this time, a release stated.”

In 2013, Liberia joined the other four countries in the region taking WASSCE, but requested that the exam be conducted on a pilot basis for three years since most schools lacked laboratory facilities.

The 2017 exam was the last pilot conducted, after which the LSHSCE was phased out. Liberian students will start taking the WASSCE in April 2018 and the test will last for five weeks. As of 2018, WASSCE will be the only external examination that will determine senior high students’ graduation or admission to universities.

In a few weeks, universities in Liberia, the Commission on Higher Education, the Ministry of Education, and WAEC Liberia will have series of meetings to determine benchmarks for admission to the universities.

Monrovia – The West African Examination Council (WAEC) Liberia said quarrels over fees charged for the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examination is due to parents’ lack of shouldering the responsibility of paying said fee over the years.

Report by Willie N. Tokpah – willie.tokpah@frontpageafricaonline.com  

WAEC-Liberia boss Dale G. Gbotoe told a local radio outside Monrovia Wednesday that the fee is being perceived by parents as exorbitant because government had been undertaking the task of paying examination fees for both 12 and 9th graders in public schools.

“Because the government was paying for all the candidates that sat the exam in time past, parents were not shouldering that responsibility,” Gbotoe stated.

Parents of students from several senior and junior high public schools have raised serious concerns over what they considered as hike in WASSCE fees by WAEC

But Gbotoe said the fees being charged for this academic year’s WASSCE examination is lesser than what was being charged over the past four years and there was no need for complaining.

According to him, since 2013, fees charged by the council for WASSCE has remained US$75 and had been administered as a pilot project but the 2018 fee is now reduced to US$60.

“The WASSCE fees over the years had been US$75; we have been giving this exam since 2013.  It was given on a pilot basis. We used to indicate the fees,” Gbotoe said.

He said the pilot project should have ended since 2015 but due to Liberia’s health crisis, it was extended up to 2017 academic school year.

“During this period,” Gbotoe noted, “schools participating in the pilot project took WAEC and WASSCE simultaneously without any complaint due to government involvement of paying the fees.”

He maintained that both fees for WAEC and WASSCE were indicated by the examination Council but parents were not aware because government was shouldering the responsibility of paying the fees.

Gbotoe, however, registered that the issue of WASSCE was long announced by government to be held in 2018 as a full-scale examination, leaving out WAEC.

He does not want WAEC be blamed for the current fee charged, noting that the decision of levying fees came from WAEC Board instead of the institution secretariat.

According to him, WAEC Secretariat proposed US$65 to the board as fee for the WASSCE Examination but said fee was reduced by US$5 by the WAEC Board.

“We had a meeting in May this year and the issue relating to the fees was presented to the board. We did a financial analysis as a breakdown, and initially we were proposing that the fees should be US$65 but the board in its own wisdom taught to reduce it to US$60,” Gbotoe asserted.

He furthered that the decision to levy fees for WASSCE Examination met the approval of several stakeholders in the educational sector of Liberia including Monrovia Consolidated School System Superintendent, Benjamin Adolphus Jacobs and was not a decision from WAEC Secretariat alone.

Gbotoe furthered: “We at the secretariat don’t have that right to make exclusive decision on fees; it’s our board that levied fees. There are stakeholders represented on the board, chaired by Deputy Education Minister for Instruction, along with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Civil Service Agency, Ministry of Labor, Educational Secretariat, the Principal Association, National Teachers Association and several other stakeholders.”

According to him, fees charged are in line with huge costs attached to running the exam, which has been divided into three stages.

The WAEC head indicated that the exam is international and the costs for developing the test, transporting materials and administering it as well as costs of printing certificates are exorbitant.

He further stated that WAEC is also concerned with extra high fees levy by some schools’ administrators for taking the exam above the regular fees charged by WAEC.

“Everything associated with WAEC, with the exception of printing and air flat, were done locally but with the WASSCE, panel have to meet from each country on questions relating to the test,” Gbotoe disclosed.

He believed students in Liberia are up to task for the WASSCE Examination, stating that Liberia educational system is up to standard, contrary to assertions of it being “messy.”

Monrovia – The West African Examination Council Liberia office has officially released the 2016/2017 National Exams result with candidate Marklyn Wingbah of the Calvary Mission located in Montserrado County as the best performing candidate with an overall aggregate of 715.70

Out of the total of 31,009 candidates representing 99.35% that sat the exams, the result shows that about 17,981 candidates amounting to 57.99% passed the exams while about 12,138 amounting to 39.14% were unsuccessful.

According to the Head of National Office Dale Gbotoe, the result this year is better than previous exams.

Mr. Gbotoe told newsman that five hundred and five four (554) Schools comprising one hundred and eight (108) students passed the exams as Montserrado and Grand Bassa County topped the list.

In a further statistics sixteen (16) candidates accumulated division two position with five from St.Teresa Convent Catholic School and four (4) from St. Peter’s Clever High School in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County respectively.

Releasing the result at WAEC Liberia head office in Congo Town the new WAEC boss commended the proctors, officials and workers of the Council including the Ministry of Education for making the exams successful.

The result is released just a day after the planned sixty days schedule, something Mr. Gbotoe noted is a plus for the Council.

Out of the sixteen division two candidates only one Student (Viola Onumah) came from a Government run institution, that’s’ the William V.S. Tubman High School.

Dale said Male candidates who passed the Exams amount to 9,691 and 8,274 females respectively.

On the other hand South Eastern Counties according to the result decimally performed in the 2016/2017 Exams with Grand Kru County the less unperformed County as only two (2) out of seventy-one (71) candidates passed the exams.

Some of the Schools who had all candidates passing the Exams are:

The St. Teresa Convent, St.Peter’s Claver High School, Diana E. Davies, Kalita High School, Muslim Congress High School, Wesleyah Academy, Don Bosco Technical High School and New Era International School.

Others are: Charity Community School, William Booth High School, Carr’s High School among others.

In the junior High division 39,906 candidates sit the exams out of that number 25,008 candidates amounting to 63.8% passed the exams while about 14,174 amounting to 36.16% were unsuccessful.

Candidate Master Darius Nyuntee Gbaa of the St. Peter Claver High School top in the junior high division with a total aggregate of 322.91.

The exam was administered across two hundred and eleven centers (211) with all Counties feeding candidates.

Meanwhile the exams is the last to be administered as 2018 will see 12^thgraders writing the international exams called WASSCE across the Country says Mr. Gbotoe.

Report by Julius Konton

THE RECENT SUCCESSFUL challenge of the entrance and placement results of the University of Liberia by candidates who were upbeat about their performance—not the ones released by the administration of the UL—has shown that the UL has all along been lying to Liberians.

WHEN OVER 25,000 school leavers allegedly failed the entrance examinations of the University of Liberia in 2013, the country—and the world—was riled as it showed—at least that was then what we thought—that our education system had plummeted to the lowest ebb.

NEGATIVE HEADLINES WERE strewn across the world’s major news network. An irate President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would go on to label the sector a mess and promised a thorough clean up the system. And so she did with the appointment of the reformist, George K. Werner, who promised to move it from the worst in the doldrums to the best the country, could boast of. And he’s on to it.

ALONG WITH ITS BROTHER in arms the West African Examination Council (WAEC), these two institutions have made it seem like nothing good is coming out of Jerusalem, but WAEC was recently nipped in the bud when Armstrong Gbessagee challenged the result and it emerged that he actually came Division 1.

FOR QUITE A WHILE, the University of Liberia has been crying for a monumental increment in its budget, a cry which can be heard from West Point to Soweto, lamenting that they are in dire straits. However, not once have we ever gotten a report, expenditure or audit, on how previous money has been expended.

PERHAPS IN THIS plea for more money, it seems the University has embarked on a campaign to discredit itself inadvertently using desirous candidates as the ones to be thrown under the bus.

IT BOGGLES ANYONE to think and believe that 25,000 candidates would sit an entrance examination and not a single person would earn a passing mark. 

IN ALL OF this educational misadventure, it’s the students who have always borne the brunt of the lampooning from every spectrum of the society. They are criticized for being unserious, lazy and less motivated and to top that, unable to compete with their colleagues in the region.

AND SO THEY have taken the blame for what is entirely beyond their fault. With no system and integrity lacking in teachers, our students became susceptible to bribery from primary to the tertiary level. With no role models and in a society where thieves are honored, they believe that stealing, not hard toil, is the quickest way to fortune.

BASED ON THIS vilification and many more, what seemed, perhaps, to be a concocted planned has been devised to paint school leavers and prospective high school graduates as bunch of numbskulls whose 12 years of being students have been one of nothingness.

WHILE WE AREN’T disputing that indeed the system is a mess and is in shambles, but let’s be fair, when students are not performing well, who is to be blamed? Teachers. They play an integral role.

LIBERIAN STUDENTS ARE not dull. What they lack is confidence—confidence in themselves, in a leadership which is repeatedly failing them. It is because of this lack of confidence many dare did not challenge the spurious announcement that came from the University in 2013 but we salute the courageous who did so this year and has proven that the University of Liberia and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has not been blowing anything but fear wave down the hearts and minds of Liberians. 

The Editor,

The issue of education in post-war Liberia continues to be marred by excessive problems which have over the years not been ably addressed by national leaders.

There is no doubt that the assertion by Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that the Liberian educational system is a “mess” has become a fact instead of anyone treating it as a mere personal view.

For too long the system has widely been described in every nook and quarter by Liberians in many ways but with little or nothing being done to address the educational maladies.

Frankly, education remains the fundamental bedrock of any nation that wants to make a paradigm of shift from underdevelopment to development and from instability to stability, just to mention a few.

This is why education should not be swept under the carpet, especially in this era of socio-economic and other challenges confronting the Liberian nation and the world at large.

For the past three consecutive academic years, Liberian students are said to have performed dismally in tests administered by the sub-regional body, the West African Examinations Council as reflected in the outcomes of such tests.

Even in other public exams here, the performances of our students are always appalling nowadays. This makes me to wonder whether or not Liberian students are not focusing on their studies.

I also wonder whether the much- heralded poor performances of our students are caused by the lack of competent and experienced instructors, poor learning facilities, rampant corruption including the offer of money and sex by students to teachers for grades.

Obviously, these factors may have impacts on the nation’s educational system which is also wanting as a result of substantial budgetary and other essential support.

Nevertheless, we need to look beyond these factors by bringing under spotlight the role of WAEC-Liberia.

Critically examining the system in most recent time, I as a student activist of the University of Liberia had penned several articles on the nation’s educational system ,pointing out multiple flaws and advancing germane recommendations aimed at strengthening this outdated and rotten system.

 For instance, at a news conference in Monrovia following the release of the most recent WAEC results during which student Armstrong Gbessage of the J.J. Roberts United Methodist School was named as the lone division 1 candidate thus prompting me to take serious issues with WAEC-Liberia.

My argument is not as a basis to question the exceptional performance of student Armstrong but to question the sincerity of WAEC in their controversial results.

WAEC as a reputable institution should not be struggling to give out proper results to the public.

On the contrary, WAEC with its controversial results and its frantic style of duties has profoundly demonstrated their ineffectiveness, incompetence, slothfulness to handling the affairs of the national exams.

It so pathetic that WAEC which in yester years was considered a credible institution has sadly fallen backward in terms of its dismal handling of the exams including multiple claims of leakage and commercialization of its questionnaires in recent years.

For instance, the recent exams by WAEC were previously postponed based on widespread allegations of leakage of the test at Konola Mission in Margibi.

To date, it remains controversial as to how the exam house was burglarized and those perpetrators of the alleged criminal act.

It is also not known what measures have been taken by WAEC to ameliorate the situation, yet its controversial results for this year show gross mass failure of Liberian students. Indeed, such approach by WAEC raises more questions than answers with respect to its credibility and integrity in administering exams.

And finally, I write.

The Author:

Mohammed Salue, is a B.W. Harris Episcopal School, Division II candidate and the Young Political Leadership School of Naymote. He studies Economics at the University of Liberia.  He is a staunched member of the Indomitable Student Integration Movement (SIM). Other related works of the author include: Troubling Academic Results: A detailed Perspective of the Whole, Another Academic malpractice: WAEC Takes Spotlight – y,mohammedsy952@gmail.com

Monrovia – Despite pronouncement by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) that performance in the recent regional exams was dismal and that no candidate obtained the top mark, WAEC has rescinded that its earlier pronouncement was an error.

Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo/ bettie.johnson@frontpageafricaonline.com

Student Armstrong Gbessage of J.J. Roberts United Methodist School in Monrovia obtained Division-1 in the latest exams results after his school had challenged the previous results publicized by WAEC.

Speaking on a local radio Wednesday, the Assistant Head of WAEC Test Administration Division, Dale Gboto, said WAEC is a human institution and as such is not infallible.

He said WAEC takes full responsibility for the incident, adding that there are current viewings of the inner workings of the office.

He stated: “When we first released on Aug 4, 2016, we said of 42,927 candidates 16,072 passed resulting into 34.48% while 22,671 failed resulting into 48.64% and 16.88 results were withheld for collusion practiced by some of the schools during the test.

“Fifty-one schools totaling 7,654 candidates’ results are being withheld for alleged collusion. Additional 216 candidates’ results are being withheld for being involved in examination irregularity,” he added.

“Immediately after we released the results to the schools, there were many issues raised by the school heads, some were flagged by the media,” Gboto said.

“We received requests for revision, but we, as procedural institution, there are provisions that require for unsatisfactory result to be reviewed.”

“We found out that, so many stakeholders didn’t come to challenge the results but we appreciate those who requested for results to be challenged.

“If we had not received this request, we wouldn’t have known this guy [from J. J. Roberts United Methodist School had reached Division-1.

we received the request, we started to review the scripts, we just don’t call you to view the scripts, and we check the objectives before essay script.

Our objective component are marked by machine, while essay are marked by human beings, there we have a challenge in that direction.”

Gboto said that the problem had shown that there is clearly that their system needs to be updated to reduce human involvement in marking the papers.”

 “After we did the objective component which there were no problem his English objective component out of 100, he had 84 “

“We went and look at the essay and he had 15, so we decided to treat the review of the papers holistically”, he disclosed.