Africa-Press – Liberia. WAEC-Liberia Boss Mr. Dale Gbotoe with a metal detector and flashback of Liberian students taking the regional test.
Under the auspices of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), all is set for the commencement of the 2025 School Candidates’ Examinations today, Monday, April 28, 2025 in Liberia, the Head of WAEC-Liberia National Office, Dale Gbotoe, has told FrontPageAfrica.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the FPA ahead of the regional test, Mr. Gbotoe disclosed that the National Office of Liberia, like other member countries, has carved new measures that will be employed during the course of the exams, especially for students doing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) – 12th Graders.
These measures, he indicated, are intended to curtail examination malpractices across the country.
Here in Liberia, a total of 188,712 students will sit for this year’s regional examination, out of which, 53,140 are senior students.
Examination malpractice has been a major issue/challenge for the Liberia National Office to control, despite withholding the results of several candidates (students) suspected of doing so.
It can be recalled that a whopping 32 percent of the results were withheld by the National Office in 2022 for different kinds of malpractices. The Council’s Liberia Office also withheld the results of 725 students in 2024 for the same reason.
However, Mr. Gbotoe has revealed that one of the moves by the Council this year is to ensure that students at the 394 centers do different subjects during the same period of the test, a method that will also be used in other member countries.
“There are things that have been done by member countries to eradicate leakage. One of those things that we will be doing is that the [student] will be doing different tests at the various centers across the country during the same time and dates. With that, there is no way for answers to fly here and there; from one center to another or from one county to the other,” asserted the WAEC-Liberia Boss.
“This is a new method that we have decided to adopt. In the future, there are plans to personalize the test to students, wherein the students will do the same test but with different questions. Nigeria is ahead and they are doing this currently. This is a very good system, because you will have students sitting beside each other but doing different questions,” he stated.
In addition, Mr. Gbotoe mentioned that WAEC Liberia has brought into the country metal detectors, devices used to detect electronic gadgets such as smartphones, smart shades and pens, among others that may be used by students for cheating purposes.
“I cannot disclose all of our measures but there are lots and these are the key ones that no one can escape. We are concerned about protecting the sanity of the exams. If we cannot, I shouldn’t be sitting where I am seated. If the test is done like a take home test, then I shouldn’t be sitting here. We will not make our students hold empty high school certificates wherein they cannot even write a common friendly letter. Our biggest challenge has been examination malpractice. But this time around, the measures that we have explored will be effective; nobody will be able to beat the system. There will be no compromise or leakage of the test,” he furthered.
New eligibility measure for senior high is contingent on passage of the 9th grade WAEC
At the same time, the WAEC-Liberia Head has set passage in the 9th grade Junior High School Examination as a requirement for getting to the senior high (10th grade).
According to him, results for the 9th grade will be released in June before report cards for the year are issued to students.
“The issue of results being delayed is one of our main challenges, and this is so because we have the human aspect where human beings are used to mark the scripts. But the pre-coded question sheets, a new development by WAEC, will help speed up the process,’’ he said.
“One of the reasons why the 9th graders are sitting early is to release the results in time. We are doing this so that, while the 12th graders are sitting, we will release the results for the 3rd, 6th and 9th grades. The government says in order to pass to the 10th grade, you must have passed the WAEC for 9th grade. And so, if that is to happen, we have to support the government. We must be supportive of the government’s effort. So, in this direction, we thought that, since schools will be closing in June, we cannot allow schools to close before we release the results. Therefore, we will give our results before the schools can issue their report cards because passing the 9th grade WAEC will be a precondition for eligibility to the 10th grade,” Mr. Gbotoe continued.
Key dates and statistics
A total of 53,562 students from 2,308 junior high schools from the 15 counties along with three Liberian-run schools in the Republic of Guinea that are using Liberia’s curriculum will sit the 9th grade test at 394 centers. The ninth graders will begin the test today, April 28, 2025 and complete tomorrow.
The Liberia Primary School Certificate Examination (LPSCE) for the 6th grade will be administered on Wednesday and Thursday, April 30 and May 1, with 47,008 students sitting at 397 centers.
“And holding everything constant, on Friday, May 3, we will be going for the 3rd graders. A total of 35,002 will do the test on their own campuses,” Mr. Gbotoe said.
“And the biggest one, of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) will be administered from May 15 to June 10 for 53,140 students at 377 examination centers across the country. Other countries doing technical and vocational subjects in their curriculum will start on the 29th of this month,” indicated Mr. Gbotoe, stressing that if all goes well, hopefully next year, Liberian students attending schools that offer technical and vocational subjects will do tests in that direction.
“Again, for this year’s examination, I want to inform the public through this medium that the private schools are more than the public schools. The Private schools actually outnumbered the public schools,” he said.
Payment of WASSCE/WAEC Fees
The Liberia National Office Head has divulged that fees for all 12th graders; both public and private, were paid by the Government of Liberia (GoL).
But for the 9th grade, he explained that the government only paid the fees for public schools students, thus suggesting that fees for students attending private schools were paid by their parents, saying fees for 6th and 3rd graders were also paid for by their parents in both public and private schools.
Some schools will miss the test
The WAEC-Liberia National Officer has reported that despite payment of the fees by the government, some schools failed to submit the names of their students.
“Maybe for the 12th grade, there might be a way out still, absolutely no way for the 9th grade now because the papers have already been pre-coded with the students’ names. I don’t know the reason why the schools did not submit their students’ names for the 12th grade when in fact, the fees were 100 percent paid by the government. I don’t know what they were thinking. I will give that information to the Ministry of Education and maybe something might be done,” he added.
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