-Breathing space for 12th grade students, parents amidst financial crisis
By our Reporter
High school seniors expected to sit the 2018 West African High School Senior Certificate Exams (WASSCE) are being given breathing space, as West African Examinations Council (AEC) has extended the deadline for registration.
Each 12th grade student is required to pay US$60 or its Liberian dollar equivalent.
“Due to numerous appeals from the public, the West African Examinations Council, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, has extended the deadline for registration for the 2018 exams,” an announcement from the Ministry of Education said on Wednesday.
Students and parents have repeatedly complained that they were finding it difficult to meet the deadline for payment of the fees, due to the difficult financial and economic situation in the country.
The deadline set for the payment is January 15 this year. But in its announcement on Wednesday, the Education Ministry has now set January 30, 2018 as the new deadline for the registration.
Prior to and after the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, hundreds of students from various schools around Monrovia thronged the headquarters of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) of now President-elect George Weah requesting him to pay their WASSCE fees.
Some 12th grade students from a number of schools have reportedly been barred from school for the past few days due to their failure to pay their WASSCE fees, but the Education Ministry has ordered this to stop.
“All principals and school administrators are also reminded that the inability on the part of students to pay the registration fees is not a legitimate reason for students to be out of schools,” the Education Ministry announcement said.