Section 8, The Education Act, 2004

(1) Senior secondary schooling shall be for students whohave completed the junior secondary school course and obtained the required BECE grades. (2) There shall be two kinds of senior secondary schools, strategically placed throughout Sierra Leone, that is to say, general senior secondary schools which will, as far as possible, operate a comprehensive curriculum; and specialist senior secondary schools which shall cater for pupils whose interests and aptitudes are for such specialised subject areas as science and mathematics, technology, the liberal arts or business studies. (3) Each senior secondary school shall be controlled by a Board of Governors and have a Principal, who shall be the administrative and academic head, assisted by a Vice-Principal, Heads of Departments, senior teachers, teachers and non-teaching staff. (4) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), each senior secondary school shall have the following characteristics– (a) each senior secondary school shall have a Guidance and Counselling Department which shall also co-ordinate continuous assessment matters; (b) each school shall have an active Parents/ Teachers Association; (c) the curriculum of each senior secondary school shall be determined by its nature (general or specialist) or its particular objects; (d) each school shall offer a set of core or compulsory subjects but shall choose its optional subjects from a list of available subjects which shall be published by the Ministry; (e) all teaching shall be based on teaching syllabuses developed by the National Curriculum Research and Development Centre; (f) at the end of the senior secondary school course, the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) based on the West African Examinations Council examination syllabuses shall be taken; (g) a pre-specified percentage of each candidate’s WASSCE final mark shall come from his continuous assessment score; and (h) the Ministry shall continuously monitor and evaluate each senior secondary school and publish its findings thereon. Senior secondary (5) Nothing contained in subsection (4) shall prevent any private senior secondary school from offering examinations other than the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations to its pupils.