As Liberia prepares for elections in October 10, many officials of the government are promoting and designing narrative to sway public support toward their preferred candidate. On July 31, 2023, Carolyn Myers, who is the Coordinator of the Non-State Actors Secretariat at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, in a radio interview outlined the improvements in Liberia’s education system.
Fact Check Report By: Leila Gbati | Africa Facts Mentee
Myers claimed that the government of President George Weah has increased the passing rate in WASSCE exams from 38% in 2018 to 76.1%, also claiming that the number of higher learning institutions in the country has been increased from 38 in 2018 to 58 under the Weah government.
In the first claim, Madam Myers said: “I’m telling you that when this government [the Weah administration] took over in 2018 the passing rate in the West African sExamination Council (WAEC) exams was 38% but the improvement now is 76.1% under the Weah administration”.
West African Examination Council is the regional examination board established by law to determine and conduct the examinations required in the public interest in English-speaking West African countries.
WAEC administered the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Exam to the six member states that made up the council.
Claim #1: “When this government [the Weah administration] took over in 2018 the passing rate in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) exams was 38% but the improvement now is 76.1% under the Weah administration”.
Verdict: Incorrect
To fact check the claim, we contacted WAEC Liberia office through an official letter address to the head office requesting for statistics on examination results from 2018 to 2023.
The office did not provide the information to our fact checker despite her many follow-up visits to the institution. These results are not published on the commission’s official website.
So, we decided to conduct further research of the claim using google search. Our search shows that in 2018, WAEC Liberia released exam results for academic year 2017/2018 in which it said 33,124 students from 600 schools sat the exam in 2018.
FrontPage Africa published a July 6, 2018 news article reporting that 33,124 students sat the exam in that year, adding that 21, 850 students representing 65.51% failed while 11, 544 students representing 34.85% passed the exam in 2018. To put this in context, 21,580 represents 65% of students who wrote the exams. Also, 855 students who sat the exam results were been held for examination malpractices, while additional 571 candidates’ results were withheld for collusion.
We also found a July 28, 2019 news article published by the Analyst newspaper. The paper reported that WAEC release result for 39, 580 students who sat the exam.
The article reported that result released by WAEC shows that in 2019, 27, 251 or 68.85% students who sat the exam passed while 12, 329 or 21.15% failed the exam.
In 2020, WAEC Liberia in a live video recording announced that a total of 39, 263 students sat the national exam.
Dale Gboto WAEC Liberia boss told the live press conference that “32, 000” which represent 81.5% of the 39, 263 students who sat the exam passed, while over “9, 000” students fail the exam.
A live video recording of WAEC Liberia announcing the 2021 WASSCE results done by Freedom FM also shows WAEC Liberia boss Dale Gboto did not announce figures of students who passed or failed.
Daily Observer also published a January 3, 2022 news article stating that WAEC Liberia announced the result for the 2021 WASSCE exam stating that it withheld the results for 13, 454, but did not state the number of students that passed or failed the exam that year.
A January 2, 2022 news article published the Liberia News Agency quotes WAEC Liberia boss as saying of the 40, 977 students who sat the exam in 2021, 25, 800 passed while 2, 080 failed.
In 2022, WAEC Liberia in a live press conference announced that 38, 292 students sat the regional exam. Out of that number, 33,207 student representing 86.72% of the total number of students that sat the exam passed while 5, 085 students representing 13.28% failed the exam in 2022.
We also found a YouTube video of the head of WAEC Liberia, Dale D. Gboto announcing that 49, 383 students sat the exam in 2023. Mr. Gboto announced that out of the 49, 383 students that sat the exam, 46, 448 students representing 94.06% passed while 2, 935 students failed the exam.
In short, statistics from our search shows that passing rate in 2018 was 34.85%, which increased to 68.85% in 2019, to 81.05% in 2020. In 2021, LINA reported that 25, 800 passed while in 2022, 86.72% passed and in 2023, 94.06% of students passed.
Conclusion
Based on the evidence we have reviewed; we conclude that Madam Myers understated the progress in the passing rate of WASSEC exam from 2018 to current.
We therefore conclude that the claim is incorrect the progress in the passing rate of WAEC exams is now 94.06% and not 76.1%.
Claim #2: In 2018 there were 38 higher learning institutions in Liberia but there are 58 higher learning institutions in the country.”
Verdict: Incorrect. Understated
During the interview, Madam Myers also claimed that “In 2018 there were 38 higher learning institutions in Liberia but there are 58 higher learning institutions in the country”.
To fact check this claim ,we contacted the National Commission on Higher Education in Liberia through email requesting for the list of accredited higher learning institutions in Liberia and the year they were accredited.
The NCHE is a government agency responsible to regulate and oversee higher education in the country.
Document from the National Commission Higher Education shared with this Fact Checker shows that as of September 2023, there are 60 higher learning institutions in the country.
The document, which contains the name, location, year of accreditation, type and contact for every higher learning institution in the country shows that in 2018, there were 37 higher learning intuitions in the country.
This means that the Weah administration has accredited 23 new higher learning institutions since it came to power in 2018.
Conclusion
With the fact discussed above, Madam Myers did not get her facts right on the number of higher learning institutions in the country. She is, however, mostly correct about the context of increment in the number of higher learning institutions from 2018 to current.
In 2018 there were 37 higher learning institutions in Liberia, and currently there are 60 higher learning institutions in the country.
This report was written by Leila Gbati, Journalist from Liberia at the Women Voices Newspaper under the mentorship of Africa Facts network member Local Voices Liberia.
Africa Facts is a network of fact-checkers across the continent supported by Africa Check, Africa’s first independent fact-checking organization.
