South Sudan`s National Examination Council (NEC) has blamed the delay in releasing the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) results for over seven months after the examinations on the prevailing economic hardship in the country.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday at the education ministry headquarters in Juba, Simon Nyok Deng, the NEC Secretary General, apologized to parents and the candidates who have been patiently waiting for the results since December 2023.
“On behalf of the National Examinations Council and my behalf, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the general public, particularly to the 2023 candidates, parents, schools, and all the other stakeholders for the delay in the release of the 2023 CSE examinations results which has been caused by circumstances beyond NEC’s control,” he said. “The delay happened because the Council is unable to obtain the remaining funds to facilitate the final stages of processing the results. Furthermore, the NEC has not even paid the 2023 examination invigilators their fees for both the 2023 CSE and Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) examinations.”
Nyok called on parents, stakeholders, and the nation at large to be patient as they engage with the National Ministry of Finance and Planning to secure funding.
“I am glad that in our interactions with the new finance minister, he has shown his full commitment to prioritize and avail funding to the National Examinations Council as soon as possible because the 2023 CSE examination results have not been released for close to 8 months,” he revealed and added: “I still appeal to the new minister of finance and members of the education committee to urgently consider the fate of these candidates. The 2023 CSE examination candidates have already missed a lot of scholarships and tertiary education opportunities due to this delay.”
Nyok added: “I therefore regret all the inconveniences caused by the delay in the release of these results and promise to release these results as soon as possible.”
The NEC official disclosed that they need roughly SSP 740 million and that they requested it last October but that it was not availed due to challenges faced by the finance ministry.