Following the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination BECE the management, staff and pupils of various Secondary Schools within the Mandu Chiefdom Kailahun District on Thursday 1st August 2024 demanded an Examination Center for various Public Examinations including West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE), Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the National Primary School Examination (NPSE) respectively.

Speaking on the requirements for the approved Examination Center the Acting Principal of Mandu Senior and Junior Secondary School Osman Kanneh said Mandu Secondary School is part of the approved Senior Secondary Schools in the county a mandate that came directly from the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone H.E Rtd. Brig. Julius Maada Bio. He said Mandu is a whole Chiefdom on its own which has a matching population that may be just like any other Chiefdom hosting Public Examinations.

“So If Mandu Chiefdom could have four Junior and three Senior Secondary Schools, and considering the total number of candidates we produce each year I believe all these requirements made us qualified to have Examination Center”. Principal Kanneh explained.

Responding to how Mandu Secondary School attained a Senior-level Principal Kanneh said since he took over initially as Principal of Mandu Junior Secondary School the SSS level has been part of their agenda and the community people themselves were yearning for the Senior Secondary School level. He said their aspirations came to reality at a time when the President of Sierra Leone H.E President Julius Maada Bio was about to visit Kailahun District for the first time he was elected President of Sierra Leone.

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“First We had wanted to meet the President, but we did not meet him directly, what we did was to make a very good banner and placards to send our messages for all that we needed including Senior Secondary level, structures and Centers among other things. On that occasion the President was impressed and I think all those concerns were collected from the pupils by a special bodyguard of the President I thought it was a mandate from the President”. Principal Kanneh stated.

The Principal further mentioned their encounter with the former Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Dr David Moinina Sengeh now Chief Minister along the Baiima – Levuma – Mobai round-about Kailahun Highway an event that was posted on the timeline of Dr David Moinina Sengeh. “All these things we are seeing and now trying to achieve were all highlighted by the pupils themselves to the Minister then sooner he reached Kailahun he sent somebody to come and verify how true what the pupils were saying and managed to gather some facts about it so he said everything will come to reality”. He maintained. He called on the attention of the President and the Government of Sierra Leone to provide the Chiefdom with a Public Examinations Center next academic year.

Presenting some of the challenges faced by pupils during Examinations as a result of migration the Acting Vice Principal of Mandu Senior and Junior Secondary School Augustine Jusu Lamin said after 2023 Public Examinations outside Mandu Chiefdom the pupils reported approximately thirty malaria cases which led to serious illnesses in the kids considering the economic challenges faced by the parents. He highlighted sexual intents and possibilities, especially for the girl children which sometimes results in early school drop out, peer group influences, minimal care taken as expected by their parents, and health hazards as a result of perforated and congested lodging/accommodation among others challenges.

“We sometimes occupied empty classes, those classrooms are perforated and in those perforations, the pupils experienced fever and mosquito bites”. Principal Lamin explained.

Reporting to Sierraloaded as to why the Mandu Secondary School was stopped from taking the exam as a newly-supposed Examination Center Principal Lamin explained the lack of communication between the Government of Sierra Leone and the West Africa Examination Council (WaEC). He said every effort were undertaken to make it done and confirmation reached them from the authorities concerned to host the first BECE Examination as a pilot phase in 2024. “The WAEC stopped us from taking the examination with the clarification that only an examiner was sent to cover the Upper Bambara Chiefdom Examination Center in Pendembu and he is not capacitated enough to have covered Mandu Chiefdom at the same time”. Principal Lamin explained. He assured parents of excellent performance for the 2024 BECE Examination despite the ongoing challenges.

Having their saying on the said matter candidates for the ongoing BECE Examination from Mandu Chiefdom Patrick Kosia, Syndo Vandy and Yoma Coomber proffered confidence for outstanding performances in this year’s examination and appealed with the President and Government of Sierra Leone to establish Public Examinations Center for the next academic year in a bid to facilitate a conducive learning environment in the Mandu Chiefdom.
It can be recalled that on Monday 29th July 2024 an unexpected order from the West Africa Examination Council WAEC reached the Mandu Senior and Junior Secondary School within fifteen minutes of the starting time for the BECE examination while waiting for question papers that the school does not suppose to host BECE Exams and pupils should migrate to the usual centre at PVTSS in the Upper Bambara Chiefdom Kailahun District for the said Examination an information that created panic and fear for both Management, Staff and Pupils who were prepared to have taken the examination for the first time in the Chiefdom.

Fortunately, the pupils made up to time as the examiner in his wisdom offered an extra one hour before the commencement of the exams. The Mandu Senior and Junior Secondary School Mobai, St. Michael Secondary School Baiima, Baiima Christian’s Academy (BCA) Baiima and Hindolo Progressive Secondary School Levuma Mandu are the four schools from Mandu Chiefdom that migrated to Upper Bambara Chiefdom for the ongoing BECE Examination.