MONROVIA, Montserrado – With this year’s West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination in motion, the Ministry of Education says its attention has been drawn to some school administrators preventing their students from receiving their identification numbers.

The ministry issued a press release which did not mention the name of the school administrators in question but called on schools to stop the “unprofessional” tactics.

“The ministry has also discovered that some schools have organized camping and are collecting flexibility fees from their students sitting the WASSCE which is unprofessional and also unacceptable,” the press release added.

“The ministry has called on all school authorities to denounce such unprofessional practices of flexibility fees which are aimed at derailing the professional ethics and strides being made by the government to improve the standards of our education systems.”

Flexibility fees are apparently funds collected from students to allow them to have easy access to the exam papers.

The ministry has promised penalties for schools and students found to be acting improperly during the administration of the WASSCE.

Possible penalties could include seizure of students’ results, fines on the schools based on the gravity of the offense, revocation of operation permits of schools, or suspension of the schools.

Meanwhile, the ministry is asking the public to report malpractices to its 1416 hotline.

This year’s WASSCE began on Wednesday, April 24 and ends on May 20, 2019. It is free for all students in both public and private schools across the country.

The Ministry of Education has said that nearly 40,000 12^th grade students from 651 schools are taking the regional exam.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah