By Saio Marrah
A total of 163,894 (one hundred and sixty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety four) primary school pupils on Saturday 6th May 2023 sat the National Primary School Examination (NPSE), which qualifies them to transition from primary school to Junior Secondary School (JSS) level, surpassing last year’s 162,068 (one hundred and sixty-two thousand and sixty-eight).
A verified social media post by the Minister of Basic and Senior School Education (MBSSE), David Moinina Sengeh PhD, a day before the examination indicated that the pupils are from 4,790 schools, with 567 examination centres across the country.
Politico visited four centres in Freetown on the exam date.
At the Vine Memorial Secondary School for Girls at Congo-Cross, the principal of the Junior Secondary School who also doubles as the supervisory head of the centre, Abdulai. A. McCarthy told Politico that 490 candidates from 13 schools were taking the examination at his school.
The Government Secondary Technical School according to the Vice Principal of the Junior School, Gibril S. Kanu, hosted 558 candidates from seven schools. Without giving a specific figure, he said the number of schools taking the examination at the centre had reduced compared to the previous year.
It’s becoming a normal practice for the parents to not only accompany their children to the examination centre but to wait until the end of the day-long primary school leaving exams.
One of the parents, Abu Sulaiman and his wife awaiting their first child (son) outside the centre in the sun, said they arrived at the school around 6 o’clock in the morning.
He said they were ready to spend another five to six hours there just to give their only kid the motivation and courage he needs from them as parents.
He said the love for their son is the only motivation behind accompanying him to the examination centre, saying it is his first external examination.
“Even within my life it is an achievement, it is a score seeing my first chid taking the first external exams and it is happiness for me,” the father said.
Sulaiman and his wife had no problems waiting outside the compound because; he said they too want perfect quietness for their kids in the examination halls.
Another Parent, Elizabeth Koroma, who said she resides at Regent Road Lumley, said her daughter was attending Pentecostal Primary School and that she decided to accompany her because she prepared food for the girl to prevent her from eating street food.
Another reason she said that prompted her to accompany her fourth child to the examination is that she is accustomed to doing it for the first three kids and that she had already spent over three hours at the time of the interview.
She expressed her excitement about seeing her child at the age of 10 taking the first public examination and said “I am so proud to see her heading to Junior School. I give all praises to God for taking her to this level.”
Ms. Korom, an elderly woman said they were well comfortable standing in the burning sun, saying the children are their heritage and seeing their parents around during lunch hour will make them happy and motivated.
At the Methodist Girls High School where the security could not allow entry into the school compound, one of the parents outside, who could not reveal her name, said accompanying her child to the centre means a lot because it will cheer them up and serve as a morale booster for the kids.
Already 11 o’clock in the morning, at the time of the interview, she had already spent over four hours standing outside the school fence and that they were all ready to wait till the end of the exams.
Mariatu Broderick, a parent and a teacher, told Politico around the Government Secondary Technical School that they have been standing around to welcome the kids.
Apart from praying for success in their exams, she said they had imparted knowledge to the kids and that when the children will be out for lunch, they will give a few words of encouragement to them before going back to complete the exams.
Saidu Bangura is a Footballer who also accompanied his son to the Technical School for the examination. His motivation to accompany him like the other parents, he said, is to inspire the boy to be more confident during the exams.
According to him, most of the children may be very intelligent but when it comes to public examination they sometimes get frightened since it is their first ever experience.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (05/05/23)
