Under mounting national attention, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Conrad Sackey appeared before Parliament on Thursday, 8 May 2025, to explain the widespread exclusion of students from the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The issue, which has triggered public outrage and concern among parents and education stakeholders, was brought before Parliament under Section 107 of the 1991 Constitution, compelling the Minister to provide a full account of the circumstances and propose a path forward.
Standing before lawmakers, Conrad Sackey described the situation as a grave concern that strikes at the heart of quality assurance in the country’s education system. He explained that while the Ministry had issued clear deadlines and instructions for registering candidates through the WAEC portal, 82 schools failed to comply, even as 892 others followed the proper procedure. The Minister further revealed that some schools attempted to register unqualified students, with fraudulent examination results from the Basic Education Certificate Examination used to fabricate eligibility. He cited instances where students who should have entered Senior Secondary School in 2021 were only now appearing on the WASSCE register, raising serious questions about academic tracking and compliance.
Despite appeals to the West African Examinations Council to reopen the portal for Sierra Leonean students, the Minister confirmed that such requests were denied. He stressed that no member country possesses the authority to alter WAEC’s operational timelines and expressed disappointment that repeated administrative failings had now culminated in such a national embarrassment.
To cushion the impact, the Ministry has initiated discussions with WAEC and diplomatic missions in The Gambia and Nigeria to explore options for affected students. It has also committed to funding private WASSCE exams for students who genuinely qualified but were denied access through no fault of their own. The Minister was clear, however, that only students with verifiable eligibility will benefit from this measure.
In a bold move toward accountability, Conrad Sackey named schools implicated in malpractice and backed his statements with documented evidence. He informed Parliament that a new Education Reform Bill is in the works, aimed at resolving structural gaps, enforcing accountability and introducing a unique learner identity system to safeguard student data and progression.
Parliamentarians offered a mixture of support and critique. Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara lamented the emotional and financial toll on families and decried what he described as leadership failure in school management. Hon. Alpha Fode Madie Jabbie defended the Ministry, blaming non-compliant schools for the chaos. Hon. Daniel Koroma called for long-term administrative reforms, while Hon. Bashiru Silikie urged the Ministry to provide clear and practical solutions for affected students.
Concluding his remarks, the Minister assured the House of his commitment to seeing reforms through and ensuring that such systemic failures do not reoccur. He emphasized that the crisis, while regrettable, had exposed critical weaknesses that the nation must confront with urgency and resolve. Parliament is expected to deliberate on the proposed reforms once the Bill is formally tabled.
