As an educator, I closely follow the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, as they provide a measure of the progress of Liberian students. Yesterday, I took the time to watch the presentation of the 2023-2024 provisional results on YouTube. As was the case last year, the results were announced by Mr. Dale Gboto, the head of WAEC Liberia. From his announcement, it seems Mr. Gboto views his role as a politician--focused on delivering good news, even when student performance is poor.
In presenting the results, Mr. Gboto claimed that Maryland County achieved the highest pass rate, with 98.29% of candidates passing at least one subject. However, this raises a critical question: What exactly constitutes a "pass" on the WASSCE?
There are nine subjects on the WASSCE: Mathematics, English Language, Economics, Geography, History, Literature in English, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. To earn a WASSCE certificate, a student MUST pass BOTH Mathematics and English, along with at least three other subjects (a minimum of 5 subjects total).
Based on this year's provisional results, we learned the following:
The pass rate for English is 45.53%.
The pass rate for Mathematics is 31.3%.
Since a student MUST pass BOTH Mathematics and English (and at least three additional subjects), the MAXIMUM possible pass rate for the exam is 31.3%. For this to occur, ALL students who pass Mathematics would also need to pass English AND at least three other subjects.
If a student passes only one subject (say, History), that student HAS NOT passed the WASSCE and is NOT college-ready. No serious college would accept a student who does not have a WASSCE certificate. Mr. Gboto's statement is comparable to claiming that a student who passes History on their report card but fails all other subjects is ready to graduate from high school.
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WAEC Liberia, under Mr. Gboto, has been presenting a false and overly optimistic picture of student performance. This is not the first time; they did the same thing last year. Why is WAEC Liberia reporting the percentage of students who pass at least one subject when those students have failed overall? Is this done out of ignorance or a deliberate attempt to portray the educational system in a better light? I hope it is the former.
I raised this issue last year and will continue sounding the alarm until WAEC Liberia reports the results accurately. WAEC Liberia must report the pass rates for students who meet the requirements to earn a certificate. Anything less is deception, which has no place in the education sector.
Let's stop fooling ourselves and stop playing politics with the future of our children. You cannot solve a problem if you refuse to admit that the problem exists. A rotten object cannot be hidden with fragrance.
About the Author: Chris Tokpah is the Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at Delaware County Community College in Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. in Program Evaluation and Measurement, an MBA with an emphasis in Management Information Systems, and a B.Sc. in Mathematics. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Research Methods and Statistics (Ph.D. program) at Delaware Valley University and an independent consultant. He can be reached at ctokpah@kent.edu.
