Liberia’s education minister says she finds it
hard to believe that not a single candidate
passed this year’s university admission exam.
Nearly 25,000 school-leavers failed the test for
admission to the University of Liberia, one of
two state-run universities.
The results mean there will be no freshers at west
Africa’s oldest degree-granting institution, one of
two state-run universities in Liberia, when it reopens
its doors next month for another academic year.
The students lacked enthusiasm and did not have a
basic grasp of English, a university official told the
BBC. Liberia is recovering from a brutal civil war that
ended a decade ago.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel peace
laureate, recently acknowledged that the education
system is still in a “in a mess”, and much needed to
be done improve it. However, Education Minister
Etmonia David-Tarpeh told the BBC Focus on Africa
programme that she intended to meet university
officials to discuss the issue. “I know there are a lot
of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group
of people to take exams and every single one of
them to fail, I have my doubts about that,” Ms
David-Tarpeh said.
“It’s like mass murder.” Ms David-Tarpeh said she
knew some of the students and the schools they
attended. “These are not just schools that will give
people grades. I’d really like to see the results of the
students,” she added. University spokesman
Momodu Getaweh told BBC Focus on Africa that the
university stood by its decision, and it would not be
swayed by “emotion”. “In English, the mechanics of
the language, they didn’t know anything about it. So
the government has to do something,” he said.
“The war has ended 10 years ago now. We have to
put that behind us and become realistic.” The Voice
of America (VOA) reported that the university hired
a private consultant to manage and administer this
year’s entrance exam. The consultant, James
Dorbor Jallah, told the VOA: “There is a perception
in our society largely that once you take the
University of Liberia admission exam, if you do not
pay money to someone, or if you do not have
appropriate connections, you would not be placed
on the results list.
So, the university has been grappling with how they
could manage the process whereby people’s
abilities would be truly measured on the basis of
their performance in the examination.” Liberia
could draw a lesson from the mass failure, he
added. “For the country as a whole, I think this is a
clarion call that we need to all see that the king is
moving around unclad and not pretend as though
the emperor has his finest clothes on.”

Hmm...and I tot naija was bad.......well dia students wia busy learning and mastering d arts of civil war and handling machinery....shikena!......just as ASUU naw want us 2 master d art of................

omg!. We are genius in Nigeria then

but come on! They cant all be empty heads now.

mazizi tonene: Hmm...and I tot naija was bad.......well dia students wia busy learning and mastering d arts of civil war and handling machinery....shikena!......just as ASUU naw want us 2 master d art of................

Na art of boko-haraming u dey learn abi na wetin??

Emmyk: omg!. We are genius in Nigeria then

but come on! They cant all be empty heads now.

Me sef wonder o...