By Ralph Sesay
The Albert Academy Junior Secondary school in Freetown is the latest to benefit from the Super Coder Scratch project sponsored by Orange Sierra through their Partners ST Foundation.
The Super Coder Scratch Project is among five projects committed by Orange Sierra Leone from a $ 1.5 million material assistance made to support the President flagship Free, Quality Education project in 2018.
All five projects were successfully launched last year jointly by Orange Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Basic and Senior School Education.
One of the projects which involve the provision of ten thousand menstrual hygiene packs started in the Western Area with the distribution of two hundred packs to twenty schools.
On Wednesday 20th, February, 2020, the implementation of the Super Coder Scratch project started at the Annie Walsh Memorial Secondary School in Freetown and yesterday was the turn of the Albert Academy Secondary School.
Welcoming the Orange Sierra Leone team to the Albert Academy Ag.Principal Senior Secondary School,Mr. Junisa Vandy noted that they were happy as a school to benefit from such a gesture especially so when modern trends are moving towards empowering children with the technological skills for the 21st century job market.
He expressed his appreciation to the management of Orange Sierra Leone on behalf of the Board of Governors of the school for the implementation of the project.
Country Director, ST. Foundation, Mohamed Dumbuya gave a background into the operations of ST Foundation which according to him is a charitable organisation dealing with the provision of free ICT equipment and training to schools at no cost.
He disclosed that ST Foundation is sponsored by a Switzerland based company ST Micro Electronics and was established in Sierra Leone since 2009.
Mr. Dumbuya indicated that their partnership with Orange Sierra Leone would go a long way in helping pupils at the Albert Academy and many to acquire the relevant skills needed for the job market.
He concluded by giving an overview of the Super Coder Scratch project and ST. Foundations overall project in Sierra Leone disclosing that they have been able since 2009 to provide a total of thirty-one (31) computer laboratories across various schools in the country together with five different training packages free of cost.
Achmed Mansaray, Regional Business Manager Orange Sierra Leone said they, as a company, are happy to give back to society and also contribute to the President’s innovation and technological revolution.
He spoke on the background to the implementation of the project and implored the pupils of the Albert Academy to make better use of the opportunity provided to them by Orange Sierra Leone.
Project Manager and Head CSR, Orange Sierra Leone, Desmond Spaine spoke on the $1.5 million dollar material support to the free,quality education project.
He recounted that Orange Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education had designed five projects which include: Super Coder Scratch for two hundred schools; provision of ten thousand menstrual hygiene packs for two hundred schools; provision of solar packs, Open Classroom for Teachers etc.
Mr. Spaine clearly indicated that Orange Sierra Leone had invested twelve thousand United States dollars ($ 12,000) to improve its network so as to ensure that the beneficiary schools could better utilize the deliverables of the project.
Justice Alhaji Abubakar King, President Albert Academy Alumni Association gave the Keynote Address. He lauded Orange Sierra Leone for considering his school during this technological era.
He appealed to them to consider sponsoring the pavement of their school compound so as to keep off dust from the computer lab.
Justice King praised the contribution of the Albert Academy over the last decades in producing a number of illustrious sons and daughters of Sierra Leone.
He expressed his dissatisfaction over the drop in disciplinary standards in the school and disclosed that the Old Boys Association took the greatest exception to such behavior from any pupil.
Justice Alhaji Abubakar King officially launched the Super Coder Scratch Project at the Albert Academy on behalf of the Board of Governors.
Ten schools in the western area and in the regions will benefit from the first phase of the project while in the second phase which will start in May,2020 fifteen (15) schools will also benefit.
The entire project will witness the provision of twenty five Super Coder Scratch laboratories training hundreds of pupils and other teacher trainers at the Junior Secondary School level within the age brackets of fourteen (14) to nineteen (19) years in super coding.
The various schools are expected to sustain the project by integrating super coding into the school curriculum.