The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Dr. Moinina David Sengeh has regarded the Ministry’s call for National Identification Number (NIN) to be a prerequisite for public examinations entry as one fundamental way of ensuring that everyone has appropriate degrees and certification linked to their NINS.

According to the Minister, the NIN removes malpractice in exams and education, noting that Since NIN has biometrics, all exam and university records could now be linked to NIN.

“Where are those who were calling for action on the fake degrees scandal? This is one fundamental way of ensuring that everyone has the appropriate degrees and certification linked to their NINS. In the future, we will check biometric and other ID records to show that Abdulai Conteh is indeed Abdulai Contch who sat for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and has a degree,” he said.

He said it is the right of every citizen to get an NIN, adding that an NIN helps citizens to access government services and this includes education services. Minister Sengeh said the NIN removes financial corruption in the education system.

“Since the introduction of the Free Quality School Education (FQSE), many people working in the public and private sector come and register in schools to take exams (these are the people likely to cheat by the way and not our FQSE students),” he said.

He said the government paid $5 million on WASSCE alone last year, adding that the Ministry will sanitize the list and send to the ACC and police all those who are culprits and using the system.

He said the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) will run the entire entry list against their system and return to MBSSE those who wanted tocheat the system. “Those candidates and their Principals will be brought to the law,” he said.