Six Gambians have been honoured by the West African Examination Council

for their outstanding achievements in the national school exams. 

The awards are for the 2019 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, and the Gambia Basic Education Certificate Examination, GABECE. 

The three awardees for the WASSCE senior secondary level are all from Nusrat Secondary School. They are Muhammed Touray, who won the overall best student award after securing 9As, Edrissa Fatty with 8As and Ousman Gaye with 6As. 

The awardees were each presented a certificate and cash prizes ranging from D10,000 to D15,000. 

In the GABECE school category, Umar Kamara of SOS Hermann Gmeiner Upper Basic was the overall best student followed by runners up Daniel Osuoha of St Peters Upper Basic and Ebrima Gajaga of Presentation of Mary Upper Basic Brikama. 

They also received certificates and cash prizes ranging from D8000 to D12,000.

Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Claudiana Cole congratulated the awardees for a “brilliant performance” adding that they had shown a “high level of determination, hard work and personal sacrifices”.

Pa Samba Baldeh, head of WAEC office in Banjul, said “the criteria for the awards may be stringent but they are not beyond the reach of our students.”

The WAEC Excellence Awards was instituted by the WAEC Endowment Fund in 1984 aimed at recognising outstanding performance of students in the Council’s examination at junior and secondary school levels.