Hundreds of Pupils at Kissy Dockyard to Miss WASSCE Due to Registration Delays

Hundreds of pupils at the Government Municipal Secondary School in Kissy Dockyard are facing the harsh reality of missing out on this year’s Government WASSCE Exams.

This comes after the students accused the school’s principal of negligence for failing to upload their CASS (Continuous Assessment) Year 1 and 2 results, which is a mandatory requirement for exam eligibility set by the Ministry of Education.

In response to their frustration, a large group of students gathered at the school premises yesterday, protesting the situation. Many voiced their disappointment, claiming that the principal’s failure to act on time had resulted in a wasted year of their education. One student expressed, “I feel bad as we come every day to school. We’ve been pressured to pay the money for snapshots by our principal, even for verification, which we did three times. We’ve been encouraged every day we’ll take the exam when we come to school, attend lessons which cost 400 leones per month, but today we’ve come to know we won’t be able to take the exam.”

Sources close to the school’s administration, however, pointed to the IT officer responsible for the uploading process as the root of the issue. According to the sources, the IT officer failed to act in a timely manner, preventing the registration process from being completed on time. As a result, the necessary measures to fast-track the upload were never implemented.

Furthermore, the school administration has placed some of the blame on the pupils, claiming that many submitted outdated BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination) results that did not meet the Ministry of Education’s registration criteria.

The school’s head girl has called on the First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio, to step in. “Some of our parents don’t have a lot, but they’ve provided education for us because we are girls. We want this matter looked into because if we don’t take this exam, a massive disaster will take place in the whole country,” she said. “We have seen students who took this exam and came out with bad results, taking their own lives. What about us?”

With time running out and no solution in sight, the students face uncertainty regarding their ability to sit for this year’s WASSCE Exams.

As the anger and disappointment mount, these students are calling for immediate action. Some have even demanded the principal’s dismissal, arguing that they can no longer afford to let their educational futures be determined by negligence.