When 63.33% of our children fail English Language in WASSCE, we have not just failed an exam, we have failed a generation.

The figures are damning. Only about 9.7% secured a credit pass, Grades A1 to C6, the very grade required to enter university. That means over 90% of our candidates are technically locked out of higher education because of one subject.

This is not about lazy students. This is systemic.

English is the medium of instruction from Class 4 to University. If a child cannot read, write and comprehend English properly, they cannot understand Biology, Government, Mathematics or History. The failure in English is a failure across the entire system.

We must ask difficult questions:

• Who is teaching English in our junior and senior secondary schools? Are they qualified?
• How many of our primary schools have functional libraries and reading programs?
• When last did we invest in foundational literacy — phonics, comprehension, writing — not just WASSCE past questions?

We commend Minister Conrad Sackey for calling it what it is, a serious crisis, and announcing emergency teacher training and foundational literacy interventions. But this cannot be another press statement.

We need:

1. A National Reading Hour in all basic schools.
2. Retraining and certification of all English Language teachers.
3. Deployment of learning materials, not just chalk.
4. Accountability from school heads, credit pass rate in English must be a key performance indicator.

Sierra Leone cannot talk about Human Capital Development when its children cannot pass the language that development is delivered in.

63.33% failure is not a statistic. It is a national security threat.