Sierra Leone: WAEC Awards Deserving Candidates
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, recognised deserving candidates who performed extremely well in the National Primary School Examination (NPSE), Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2022.
The recognizing ceremony which was held at the WAEC Lower Hall in Freetown was well attended by students, parents, education stakeholders and officials from WAEC.
In the NPSE category, Lorraine M. Pabs-Garnon from the International School was the best student with an aggregate of 337; Angella J. M. Sesay from International School took the second position with an aggregate of 334; while Tyra Nestralla from the Leone Preparatory School took the third position with an aggregate 334.
In the BECE category, Esther Mary F. Conteh from the Providence International High School took the first position with an aggregate of 7; Lamin Gershon Macarthy from the International Secondary School took the second position with aggregate 7; and Kaday Mansaray from the Cluny Free the Children school in Koidu came third with an aggregate of 7.
In the WASSCE category, Lamin I. Sesay from the Wurie Obedience Secondary School was the best WASSCE student; Julius Alie Kpaka from the Saline High School came second; and Peter Onyeka Nchezor came third.
The awardees received cash prizes, certificates, and gifts.
Acting Head of the Freetown Section of the Research Department of WAEC, A. S. Janneh said that the criteria for the award of the best performing candidates in the NPSE are based on the candidate’s total T-scores in all five subjects; while the criteria for the award of best three performing candidates in BECE are based on the candidates’ total T-scores in six subjects; while in WASSCE its based on the candidates’ total T-scores in their best eight subjects.
“In the event there is a tie, the T-scores of the candidates in English Language and Mathematics should be used for NPSE, BECE and WASSCE,” Janneh said.
The Officer in Charge of the Freetown Office of WAEC, Mustapha G. Koroma said that awards was sponsored by the WAEC Endowment Fund to promote excellence in the Council as an international World-class examination body, and to promote academic excellence and competition among pupils through prize awards.
He said that the Endowment Fund is an educational trust fund which was established by the Council in 1982 at its 30th annual meeting held in Liberia when the Convention establishing the Council was signed by all member countries of WAEC including Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Koroma said that several programmes are embedded in the Endowment Fund including the lectures by eminent scholars.
He said that 28 Endowment Fund lectures have been delivered since 1996, and five of them by Eminent Sierra Leone scholars.
He congratulated the awardees for the hard work. He expressed his profound thanks and appreciation to all parties — invigilators, supervisors, examiners, school authorities and WAEC staff who made the examination a big success.
In her Keynote address, the Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education , Dr Yatta Kanu, said that they were at the awards to honour and celebrate some of the best and the brightest in Sierra Leone who have distinguished themselves not only academically but also morally because the awards are a testament to their integrity — “that if you work hard and honestly you can rise to higher heights without involving yourself in any form of exams malpractice”. She said that WAEC is the foremost examination body developing and maintaining international accepted procedures in examinations, providing higher quality and reliable educational assessment, encouraging academic and moral excellence among the youth and promoting sustainable human resource development, mutual understanding and international cooperation.
“Thank you, your honourees, for showing us and WAEC their objective to give the people of Sierra Leone a vision of great potentials which lie beyond examination,” Dr Yatta Kanu said.
“When we are celebrating academic excellence, we are shouting to the nay sayers: Hurray!! It can be done and here is the proof!” she said that as they celebrate the students, they are celebrating everyone who contributed to the excellence they are celebrating — the schools and school leadership, the dedicated teachers who put in the time and the effort to significantly improve their students’ academic improvement against all odds, the parents or guardians who stand in loco parentis and make great sacrifices to help their children accomplish academic success, and of course our students themselves who are the key players in all of this.
Chairperson of the occasion, Mrs Salamatu N. Koroma congratulated the awardees for making their country, their parents and schools proud.
She spoke about government’s committed to provide conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning in schools by paying school examination fees, supply teaching and learning materials to schools, and providing the right policies for education to flourish.
Representative of Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools, Mrs Mariatu Mansaray, congratulated the awardees for working very hard. She said that the awards will serve as motivation to other students to strive for excellence. She urged awardees to continue to work hard. She urged the Ministry of Education, Teaching Service Commission (TSC), WAEC and Heads of Schools to put hand on deck to curb all irregularities and improve on the standards of education.
A member of the Endowment Fund, Dr Dele Sannoh welcomed all those present at the august occasion to celebrate those who have proven themselves academically worthy and have done us proud. “To all the learners present here today, let it be known that to achieve anything in life, you must stay focused. What you make of the opportunities opened to you is what will shape your future…” he said.
