By Dadson A. Musa

The sad reality is that for this academic year is that pupils who have qualified to be in SSS1 have already missed out on a whole term. Over the years, it is a problem that government after government have sought to avoid. It has been due to the delay in the release of the Basic Certificate Examination (BECE) results. The BECE is the public exam which pupils in the final stage of junior secondary schooling take to proceed to senior secondary school. The first class in senior secondary school (SSS1) is where the West Africa Senior School Examination (WASSCE) syllabus starts, so, missing out on the foundation class makes it difficult for our kids to come out with requirements for university or to even go to other tertiary educational institutions.

Government has vouched to pay the public examination fees which takes away financial constraints on parents, but the timely publication of public exams’ results, especially BECE, is still a challenge.

On the part of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), the public exams conducting body for primary, junior and senior schools, should make sure that those marking the scripts are paid well and on time. They should know that those public examination papers are very sensitive and determine the future of our children who are the future leaders of tomorrow. One reason for the delay in the release of this year’ s BECE is examination malpractice. This was why the results were delayed.

Now let us face this, why should WAEC allow invigilators who are poor teachers to fund themselves in conducting this exam and not get paid until after one year. We have toyed with the future of our country and continue to toy with it. Even when the full academic year is utilized teachers’ s commitment to their job is lukewarm, let alone missing out on a whole term in the academic year.

These challenges in the free quality education have plagued us since its inception and continue to do so. That is why credit must be given to our current Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh , who, during his time as Minister of Basic and senior Secondary Education, ensured early release of these public examination results to the point of making far less expensive. This earned him the title of ‘world’s best minister’.

How is government going to make up for lost time without putting more financial constraints on parents? This trend where pupils miss out on a whole term should be nipped in the bud so WASSCE results are not affected. And we do not want a situation where school heads are going to tell parents to pay for extra lessons just to cover syllabus. We should not be seen to be losing the essence of the free quality education as it will lead to erosion of the gains made and funds spent in the program. And we hope the delay where a whole term is lost does not repeat itself.