Mass failure recorded after university entrance exam in Liberia

Liberia has again recorded a huge number of failures after an entrance and placement exam into the University of Liberia in the capital Monrovia.

Out of the total 8,122 candidates who sat for the examination in May, only 1,919 passed, the university disclosed to local media on Wednesday.

This result is much better than last year’s when only 1,778 passed out of the 8,300 candidates who sat for the entrance exam. In 2015, 15 students passed out of 13,000 candidates.

In 2013, all 25,000 students who sat for the exam failed.

The university, for the first time, decided to administer a second exam in July for those who failed and those who did not have the opportunity to register.

“Entrance now at the UL [University of Liberia] is merit-based; there is no other route to the University of Liberia … The testing center is independent, so I encourage more students to sit the test,” said the head of the university’s Testing and Evaluation Center, Dr. Peter Humphrey.

Liberian high school students also sit for the West African regional examinations which qualifies them into the university. In 2016, out of a total of 42,000 students, only one student passed that exam.

Analysts believe the civil war, poverty and unemployment have contributed to the massive exams failure in the West African country.

Others blame teachers in lower levels of education for not grooming the students properly.

The University of Liberia is one of two public universities in the country. It has the largest student population of over 17,000.