Over 1,000 pupils attempting the West African School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) for 2019 at the Kwama Catholic Secondary School, Kwama have turned into hoodlums and rebels after a very strict WAEC official, Mr. Samai, burst into a cartel in which school authorities have condoned examination malpractices.
It will be recalled on Friday 17th May, 2019 pupils of the School went on the rampage after the WAEC official assigned to the center had busted into a cartel at the school. The WAEC official reacted by tearing the papers which he had suspected of having been done outside the examination hall. The pupils have reportedly gone berserk upon seeing this and went on the rampage blocking the main highway, destroying vehicle windscreens, stealing phones and monies from passengers heading to Freetown.
Police from Waterloo Division who immediately went to the scene could not contain the situation. Five officers were seriously wounded. Assistant Inspector General of Police, Frank Alpha, led a reinforced team into the area having received reports that things have gone out of hand.
The Police succeeded in rescuing the WAEC official who was the target of the pupils’ violence. They have also succeeded in making several arrests involving both pupils and community members.
Community stakeholders, who spoke to this medium, stated that the Police also exhibited high handedness by beating and arresting community stakeholders and housewives who were not part of the student riot.
Kwama Catholic Secondary School has long been on the spotlight of WAEC authorities for being a very strong cartel for perpetrating examination malpractices and this explains why pupils from all over the country would find their way into the school to sit to the WASSSCE Examinations.
Even when the school is a Catholic School that should have or maintain decent and moral standards, the Head of the School, Mr. Kargbo, has been branded an untouchable in the circles of WAEC and former administration at the Ministry of Education. How comes that the Ministry of Education would allow the rogue Kwama School principal to secure entries for over 1,000 students for the WASSCE Examinations? Our investigations reveal that most of these candidates are not students of the school but ones he has brought from various areas in the country in suspicious means to benefit from the examination cartel in his school.
This medium is aware that there is an Education Secretary for all catholic schools including the Kwama Catholic Secondary school, and they happen to be Reverend Fathers of the Catholic Church. Their business is to effectively manage all Catholic Schools in line with the aspirations of the Catholic Church. But what has subsequent Education Secretaries done to correct this menace over the years at the Kwama Catholic Secondary School remains questionable. It is even alleged that the school is a breeding ground for cultism physically perpetrated by the Principal himself.
Many have blasted the Catholic Church for allowing its school to be used as a safe haven for criminality and have called on the Church to take very strong and immediate measures to ensure that the School’s activity befits that of a Catholic Secondary School.
The issues of examination malpractice has been viewed as an organized criminal enterprise in the country over the years and officials from WAEC, school heads, parents and pupils have turned the business of examinations into a money enterprise. This has largely justified the very poor rate of students that enter into the various Universities. The New Government is taking very stringent measures to stop the practice.