By Theresa Kef Sesay
President Julius Maada Bio at Bintumani Hotel, in Freetown, on Friday 11 December 2020 officially closed the week-long forum on the future of education in the country. He praised the efforts of the Ministry of Education and emphasized that investing in education is investing in the future of Sierra Leone.
“The future of education in Sierra Leone will define the future of this nation. So this dialogue is indeed a defining moment in our nation’s history. To define that future, we should define the roles of each actor in shaping the future of education in Sierra Leone.
“Also early this week, I was in the Gabonese Republic at the invitation of my brother, President Ali Bongo Ondimba. I came back with a wholesome view of what is possible with good natural resource governance, economic diversification, and what they call human investment strategy with a 96% primary school education rate,” he said.
The President added that there was a confluence of views on the notion that for a nation to achieve accelerated economic development, it must invest in its citizens and boost local productivity, adding that Sierra Leone had already articulated that in the government’s New Direction Manifesto and Medium-Term National Development Plan.
“To facilitate more access to education, my Government pays billions of Leones in fee subsidies for over two million children right across Sierra Leone, constructed new schools and refurbished and furnished existing schools, approved over 3,000 more schools, and is currently constructing early childhood development centres for the first time in all parts of Sierra Leone.
Chairman of the Oversight Committee on Education in Parliament, Honourable Dominic Lavalie Tshombe, commended the government for the huge task of implementing its flagship programme – Free Quality Education – across the country, noting that the government had also increased its financial support to the sector.
Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. Moinina David Sengeh, said the two ministries in the education sector are closely working together in enhancing the Free Quality Education programme, adding that there has been a significant improvement in the realization of the government’s human capital development agenda.
“The state of education is better than it was some three years ago. This is because there has been an increase in the number in the school system,” he said, adding that the world is admiring Sierra Leone because of the radical inclusion of everyone into the system. He said all of that is the result of the introduction of technology and innovation into education administration.
“When we reopened schools during this difficult time of COVID 19, people bashed at us. Today the world is motivated by the measures we put in place. There has been no incident or transmission of COVID-19,” he disclosed, noting that he is proud that the future of education in the country is bright and prosperous.
