Sierra Leone News: Sierra Leone Hosts WAEC Endowment Fund Conference
By Stephen V. Lansana
Sierra Leone on Monday March 18, 2019, hosted the 34th West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Endowment Fund Lecture and also the 67th Annual Council Meeting at the British Council hall in Freetown.
The Endowment Fund Lecture is held rotationally by the five Council members. This is the fifth time Sierra Leone has hosted this lecture. The Endowment Fund Lecture was well attended by council members in all the five countries including government ministers, parents of awardees students and other school students in the country.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of Council, Baboucarr Bouy, said that this is the day that they all look forward to. “Those of us who are associated with WAEC will know that this lecture is so important in the operations of the Council. Since its inception, those who have been following issues will agree with me that it has helped in shaping our education policy within our sub-regions,” he said.
“I take WAEC to be just like laboratory in the health sector where unless the patient is preparedly diagnosed the doctor cannot preempt his illness. For us WAEC as an organization plays that important role in our education system. If we leave WAEC in our educational system, we will continue believing that learning is taking place but truly it’s not. WAEC is like a center wing,” The Chairman of Council said.
“This institution is older than me and even older than most of you sitting here, but it’s very important in our lives,” he said.
Giving a brief history of the WAEC Endowment Fund Lecture, the Non- Council Member of the Board of Trustees of the WAEC Endowment Fund, Dr Dela Sannoh said that the Endowment Fund was inaugurated during the 30th anniversary celebration of the Council in Monrovia, Liberia in March 1982, and that today is the 34th lecture.
She said that the objectives of the Fund are to promote educational development projects of an international nature, provide awards for outstanding contributions to the Council’s work, and give prizes for outstanding candidates in the examinations conducted by the Council.
She said that she want to talk about the difference which will give a lot of impact within the sub-region. “These are activities and framework of the programme: awards for candidate with special need — visual, hearing impaired; and award for outstanding performance for candidate for both national and international, among others. This is sometime new that is coming up and I must say that WAEC is considering many more children who are not well recognized in the society,” she said.
Dr Sannoh said that WAEC will be recognizing those children to provide an inclusion in education, adding that WAEC is breaking and providing opportunities through the Endowment Fund. She said that in line with what they have advocated, WAEC has given thoughtful and careful consideration to those we call less fortunate, disadvantaged and challenged in various dimensions. This award for excellent, effort and performance in WASSCE for students with special needs both national and international is about self recognition of perseverance, excellent for students with special needs.
In his statement, the guest speaker, Profession Joe A. D. Alie, Dean of Post Graduate Study, University of Sierra Leone, said that the topic: “Innovative approaches to measure knowledge and skills” challenges us to reconsider or re-examine our current reassessment methods and design new and indigenous approaches that could bring less stress and more prejudicial experience. He said that the purpose of the topic is not to provide a shopping list of prerogative approaches in measuring knowledge, skills and attribute, but to promote, among educators, teachers, examiners in member countries of WAEC and WAEC itself, student forms of assessment with the technologically and rapidly changing world.
He added that the assessment should take into consideration the special needs, interests and attribute of learners, noting that exams are not the sole determinate for success.
“We cannot use yesterday knowledge to educate today’s children for the day to day knowledge of tomorrow,” he said. “Assessment is more than grading. It is about measuring the growth of our students which enables teachers to know the strength and weaknesses of learners.”
He stated that currently in WAEC and in the school system, students are assessed in two ways: formative and summative assessment.