By Aminata Serry Kamara
Freetown, 18th August, 2026 – The Public Affairs Officer at the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Sierra Leone, Salieu Kamara, has assured the public that the withheld National Primary School Examination (NPSE) results will be released before September after school authorities have followed due processes.
He said the withheld results fall within three categories: schools’ failure to submit their continuous assessment scores (CASS), non-registration of pupils, and examination malpractices.
“We withheld 1,648 results from 61 schools because they did not submit the continuous assessment scores of their pupils. This was why we decided to set them aside and released the majority,” he revealed, adding that most of the schools have started submitting their CASS.
“We also had 337 results withheld from seven schools because of non-payment of fees, which was due to schools’ failure to register their pupils on the portal. Usually, the government pays for candidates whose names are on the portal. So, these are the schools that did not register their candidates before we closed the portal,” he also stated.
However, he stated that pupils were allowed to write the exams in order not to discourage them from taking their very first public exams. “These are kids who had studied for six years, and being driven out of exams because of the negligence of their schools would have been unfair to them. So, we made them sit the exams while their schools pay the cost the government initially supposed to bear.”
Discussing candidates who committed examination irregularities, Kamara stated that there were 326 candidates with collusion of answers, mistakes, and “the flow of answering the questions.”
He further revealed that this number is linked to the cases they received from stakeholders about people who were involved in registering and fabricating continuous assessments for candidates who were “unqualified” to take the exams.
He noted that, “Our mandate is to investigate these cases and present them to our committee. The case will be presented to the Sierra Leone Examinations Committee, who will determine the cancellation of the results.”
Nonetheless, Salieu assured parents that withheld results would be released before schools reopen in September, provided schools have submitted their CASS, paid their fees, and are free of examination malpractices. “Once all the 61 schools submit their CASS today, we will release their results before this week ends. We know parents want to make preparations for their children,” he states. “And once those who are supposed to pay do so, we will immediately release their results,” he assured.
