My personal analysis on the 2022 NPSE results

I sat the National Primary School Exams (NPSE) in 2002. At the time, just like now, we all wanted to get the highest grade (to be amongst the 400s). We all wished our names were mentioned on radio and our school was announced as the best in the country.?

The school I attended prepared us so well that we were very confident we would make it. Our teachers gave their all and our internal school exams were set to be harder than the NPSE, so once you did well in the continuous assessment exams you would have a strong chance to pass the NPSE. By now, I’m sure you have already guessed that I was in a private school. And you’d be right!?

I attended the Modern Elementary School and during my time there, our school was always within the category of the top five schools in the country. International Primary School almost always had the first positions for an individual candidate, one would think that it was a statutory position only reserved for them. Nonetheless they do put in the work, so it’s well deserved.?

No one questions the output of pupils from these schools. Simply because kids in these schools have access. Access to education and opportunities to a better life!?

Some stats from the time I sat the NPSE include:?

● A total of 34,932 candidates entered for the exam, with 17,931 boys (51.33%) and 10,250 girls (29.34%) making a total of 28,181 of us who sat the exams.?

● The total number of passes corresponded to an overall pass rate of 80.68%.?

● The pass mark aggregate at the time was 220.

● The highest individual score was 413, from a female candidate

Now, compare those stats to the just announced 2022 NPSE result:

● There were 162,068 candidates who entered for the exam, with 79,617 (49.1%) boys and 82,451 (50%) girls.?

● The total number of passes corresponds to an overall pass rate of 81.2%.?

So, what has changed over the span of 20 years?

● Every child in Sierra Leone now has access to basic education and an opportunity to attempt the NPSE?

● The pass mark aggregate has increased from 220 to 230?

● The country has adopted a Radical Inclusion Policy which is deliberate to ensure that all child in Sierra Leone has an equal opportunity to education

?What hasn’t changed or been made worse off within a span of?20 years?

● Our educational system took a backseat for 11 out of the 20 years

● No new school infrastructure was developed within those 11 years to make up for the increase in population?

● No new education policies or initiatives were developed to increase learning outcomes within those 11 years?

● Nothing was done within those 11 years to reduce the gap between the children of high-end income earners and the children of middle income earners, let alone low income earners?

● Based on the significant increase in population and overall school enrolment mainly due to free access to basic education we have way more parents who manipulate the system with collaboration with school heads to allow kids in lower classes to attempt the NPSE. While you have the seldom cases of passes you largely have those who do poorly.?

So, with these standards in variation increasing with a huge spike in numbers of children attempting the exams, with the awakening awareness to the value of education once again in Sierra Leone, it is only expected that kids are way more competitive now than ever. It is also only normal that the average mean increases significantly which automatically reduces the individual grades if the standard variable is still high (which in this case, the standard variable is determined by the quality of education provided for all which typically increases learning output/outcomes). But now there are deliberate efforts by the existing administration to reduce the standard variable with the implementation of new policies like the Radical Inclusion policy, School Infrastructure and Catchment Area Policy, Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy, National School Feeding Policy (https://mbsse.gov.sl/policies/)?and initiatives like the result checker app (*468#) to reduce the disparity. So no, the system hasn’t been changed or manipulated to have more kids pass and lessen individual high scores. But rather, with the introduction of the Free Quality Education in 2018 seeing a huge spike in school enrolment, our current governance system gave us one true shot at rebuilding our educational system again. The system forced us all to come back to the drawing board and begin to rebuild from scratch. No one can convince me otherwise that the singular act of prioritising education again in an already struggling country was a bad idea. Rather it was a wakeup call to action. This is a real chance at developing the human capital of our country and rebuilding again. An action we as a country must be ready to embark on.?

So, what has happened from 2018 to now, which has sparked the much-debated conversation from every announced NPSE result?

The scales have been taken off our eyes!?

The reality of our educational system is right in our faces, and we are unhappy about it which rightfully so should be the reaction of every well-meaning Sierra Leonean who wants better. So, the educational system does need an overhaul, this has been said since 2018 and back to the reason why education has been the primary concern for the current administration. So, join the campaign!

But we are channelling our anger wrongly:

We are channelling our frustrations at a governance system which has been bold enough to dream and imagine a future we all didn’t think about or were too timid to embrace. We all thought and said Free Quality Education was impossible, that our economy wouldn’t be able to afford it. Yet the administration said yes, we do see that BUT we will still try. We would, as a system, take the risk and take our chances at building education together.?

We will take our chances at bringing every child to the table, with an effort of creating an enabling environment for all of them to thrive. To build an ecosystem where the poor also believes that he or she can become what the rich can……

Imagining a Sierra Leone where no one feels less of themselves….

So no, today’s government system isn’t shying away from the fact that our educational system needs significant improvement because that is what they have been saying and doing since they came into governance.?

The current administration isn’t saying our educational system is now excellent, rather it’s exposing us all to the practicality of how damaged our educational system has been and allowing us all to get a realistic look into it and see how we can all come together and fix it.?

The current administration is saying: these are the gaps; our kids are ready but the infrastructure isn’t there yet, so we are still building. Making progress each year at a time.?

Building with the clear intent to not leave anyone behind, rather providing a platform for everyone to thrive and have a fair shot.?

So again, no one’s child is paying the price for another. Rather, every child is given a chance to make it. A chance I think that every mother or parent should be okay to know that not just her child’s welfare is paramount, rather the welfare of all children.

Or better still, be fair enough to know or understand that as a government the welfare of all children should be and must be of importance, thus should focus on creating and developing a system that caters to all.?

So again, the methodology to assess our kids hasn’t changed. It was the same in 2002 as it is in 2022. (click this link if you want to understand in detail on how T-Scores are accessed: https://road-to-psle.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-psle-aggregate-and-t-scores-are.html)

What has changed is bias towards education. It shifted from not just catering to the privileged but rather now it caters to all in a deliberate effort to ensure that every child acquires the basic educational requirements. So that the quality of education should be such that the child in Falaba has the same opportunities as the child in Freetown. That the standards of evaluation should be such that both are assessed equally based on their capabilities and not based on the privileges they have been exposed to. The kids were never the issue, nor are they the issue today. They have always and still are competitive, we just didn’t create the platform then to see that so we were all so very convenient in our bubble of being few in classrooms and only having kids of parents who can afford school fees and NPSE examinations fees.

So now let us begin by reassuring our kids that their individual quality hasn't dropped but rather provision has been made to extend the same quality they have been privileged to, has now been extended to their peers who before now didn’t have access to it.

So, moving forward, now that we know the lapses, let's continue building. Let us stop throwing stones at the very builders who are trying to get it right. Rather, let’s join forces in understanding how we can continue to improve our educational system, get back on track, and as a nation cohesively work together towards excellence and sustainable development.