By Isaac Unisa Kamara.
Dear Parents, Students, and Fellow Citizens,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this as someone who has long believed in and stood beside Dr. Ibrahim Bangura’s vision: that education is more than an examination—it is the foundation upon which dignity, opportunity, and equality are built. The delay in issuing out the WASSCE and BECE results is not just administrative; it undermines those very values that Dr. Bangura has carried in his campaign.
Dr. Bangura has often said, “Education saved my life. I was raised in a modest home where books were prized and school was sacred.” It is in that spirit that we must understand the urgency of results as per concerns the delivery of our educational investments—because for so many, those exam grades are not merely marks, they are lifelines. They open doors to senior secondary schools, scholarships, and vocational pathways. When they are delayed, young people are left waiting, their plans in limbo, their hope tested.
In recent campaign events, Dr. Bangura has asked parents and youth alike to imagine the kind of country he is building for his daughter, Petra. He said: “My daughter … asked me recently, ‘Daddy, what kind of country are you building for me?’ And that question sits on my chest every single day.” This question is more than personal—it is every child’s question. What kind of country do we have when examination results are late, when a student can not move on because no one tells them what their answer is?
We must also remember another of his statements: education is not a tool of exclusion but of liberation. That in some of his speeches, Dr. Bangura refers to “knowledge justice”, a principle insisting “education must be a tool of liberation, not frustration.” Frustration is exactly what arises when those who have worked hard are made to wait without explanation. When systems delay without transparency, the barriers to equity grow larger.
To the authorities responsible: this is your moment to honour the values Dr. Bangura speaks about—fairness, respect, and accountability. Clear communication is not optional. One can imagine the conscience of parents and the public in general guessing or rather yearning for the immediate release of these results, a statement explaining the cause of the delay, the expected timeline, and what steps are being taken to prevent similar future bottlenecks.
To the students: know that your effort and patience are not forgotten. The delay does not erase your work, your ambition, or your worth. To the parents: Your concerns are valid. Your children’s futures are at stake, and they deserve respect, clarity, and justice.
Dr. Ibrahim Bangura’s campaign reminds us constantly that “the business of governing bodies is to transform the lives of the people, to improve their living conditions.” Delayed examination results are not a small inconvenience—they are part of the lived experience of many whose “living conditions” already stretch under strain.
Let us stand together with compassion but also with resolve. Let us demand from our education institutions the prompt, honest, transparent treatment that aligns with the ideals we are promised. Because for Petra, and for every Sierra Leonean child, no dream should be hindered by avoidable delay.
