Maths and English Certification Options for Sierra Leone

It bothers me that so many young Sierra Leoneans keep resitting WASSCE mainly because they keep failing maths and English.

Some Nigerian Universities have decided to abandon maths completely as an entry requirement.

I don’t think this is wise.

Here is my suggested way out of the constant maths and English resitting.

Junior Secondary, Adult Education and Vocational Skills Options

Students completing Junior Secondary School should be offered a Functional Skills Type maths and English Certification.

This has been used in the UK to great success and some Universities will even accept this qualification as entrance into their Foundation Year courses.

MBSSE offers Functional Skills and this should be widely implemented now as a standalone qualification. They should create one for English too.

Functional Skills qualifications is also ideal for adult education and vocational skills training.

Senior Secondary Options

Students should be able to take a GCSE-Type maths and English Certificate exam at the end of SS2.

This should allow those pursuing arts or commercial subjects to drop maths after this.

They will have to take WASSCE English though.

Students pursuing engineering and computer science and medicine could drop English after this but must complete WASSCE maths.

I think these suggestions, if implemented, will give students clear alternatives and reduce the constant resitting.

Updated Version

I decided to remove the GCSE-Type option because I think we would not have the resources for that. Instead I recommend upgrading Functional Skills to a standalone option and use it also for entrance into Further Education and University for certain subjects.

Learners should be able to mix and match:

• For example for Law, a candidate with Functional Skills maths and WASSCE English should be able to gain entrance.
• For engineering, a candidate with Functional Skills English and Wassce maths should be able to gain entrance.

Furthermore, Functional Skills exams should be offered several times a year, both paper-based and digital. This will clear this Learners should be able to mix and match:

• For example for Law, a candidate with Functional Skills maths and WASSCE English should be able to gain entrance.
• For engineering, a candidate with Functional Skills English and Wassce maths should be able to gain entrance.

Furthermore, Functional Skills exams should be offered several times a year, both paper-based and digital. This will clear this perenial stress and backlog.

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