The Past Pupils Association (PPA) of one of Sierra Leone’s top secondary schools, the Prince of Wales, has vowed to address the alarming rate of failure of pupils in especially external examinations such as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Pupils of the school have within the past four years performed below expectations in the aforesaid examinations.

The Past Pupils Association has on Saturday 31st October 2009, during the celebrations of the schools 85th anniversary, unanimously agreed to meet and map out mechanisms to salvage this bad development.

This was disclosed by the President of the Past Pupils Association of the Prince of Wales Secondary School, Raymond Moshe Robert.

Mr. Moshe Robert said his organization is not pleased with the results that pupils are presently producing. He attributed the massive decline in the school’s standard to what he described as the attitudes of teachers towards their classroom duties. He pointed out that his organization, comprised of past pupils of the school, is tasked with the responsibility of intervening in situations of such in a bid to remedy the situation without further delay.

President Moshe Robert furthered that the association has already designed plans to be discussed with the school’s board in addressing the ugly scenario.

For him, the oldest serving past pupil of the school, Canon Rev. J.E Lusgrave-Davies expressed how proud he is to be a Princewalean. He said the Prince of Wales was established in 1925 when the Prince of Wales visited Sierra Leone. “At that time, I was only eight years old,” he pointed out, adding that he was admitted into the school in January 1930.

According to him, there were no more than twenty pupils in a class during their days in the school. He said overcrowding of pupils is a contributor to the production of poor results.

Earlier, the Principal Junior Secondary School (JSS) Prince of Wales School, Mr. Obrie Jones admonished the pupils on the importance of putting more interest towards their education. He called on them to continue to be good boys. 

An other address was delivered by one of the most respected alumni of the school, Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, who doubles as Sierra Leone’s only female newspaper publisher. In her address, she thanked the principals, teachers and present pupils for upholding the school’s good name. She expressed how proud she is to be a Princewalean, whilst explaining that she joined the school after going through five years of intense education at the Annie Walsh Memorial Secondary School. According to Dr. Blyden, she was enrolled in the school in 1987 into the Science Department, where there were only four girls among thousands of boys. Dr. Blyden however disclosed that she peacefully went through her upper six with her male colleagues. The woman publisher admonished the present pupils to be steadfast in their educational pursuit.