Sierra Leone News: NPSE: Hundred Schools Record Mass Failure

By Abu Bakarr Munu

Out of 619 primary schools that took the 2019 National Primary School Examination (NPSC) across the country, 100 primary schools have recorded 100% failure rate, the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education said Thursday.

Lawyer Alpha Osman Timbo told a news conference in Freetown that, they are going to summon head teachers whose schools had performed so badly by failing to meet the government threshold of 230 marks, to an urgent meeting to ascertain what is responsible for the massive failure.

Minister Timbo said that over 250 schools were also able to meet the government threshold.

He said the best candidate in the country scored a total of 360 marks, as compared to that of last academic year which was 354 marks. The minister said that female candidates performed better than their male counterparts.

Out of the best five best candidates for 2019, four of them are female; adding the only boy among them took fourth position. He also said that, out of the five best candidates, three of them are in the western area.

In terms of regional performance, Timbo pointed out that, the western area top the list; followed by the eastern region; northern region, where the male candidates performed remarkable well as compared to the female candidates; and southern region trails behind with Pujehun.

He said that the western area top the table because most of the candidates performed better and were able to score high grades in English Language.

The Minister said overall, candidates were able to meet the threshold, noting that the 2018 results were better as compared to the 2019 results. He said this is as a result of the number of measures that were put in place by the Education Ministry and its partners to curb examination malpractices.

The Chief Education Officer, Dr. Alhaji Haji Kamara said that the 2019 exams were also conducted in six schools in neighbouring Guinea, but that all of them also performed poorly.