The Bo Government Secondary School, widely known as The Bo School, is the ninth in the country and the fourth in the Southern Province to benefit from Orange Sierra Leone’s Super Coder Scratch Project jointly implemented with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education.
The official launching ceremony of the project took place on Wednesday 4 March 2020 at the Bo Secondary School campus in Bo.
Welcoming the Orange Sierra Leone team; the Paramount Chief of Bo Kakua; the President of the Old Bo Boys’ Association Bo Branch, and other representatives from ST Microelectronics Foundation the acting Principal of the school, George Evans Kweku Nyarko noted that he was overwhelmed on behalf of the school’s Board of Governors to welcome Orange Sierra Leone and other stakeholders to the great Bo School.
He praised Orange Sierra Leone and ST Foundation for coming around to help the pupils of Bo School to acquire basic skills in computer and super coding.
ST Foundation Country Director, Mohamed Mustapha Dumbuya, noted that his organization was very much gratified to introduce Orange Sierra Leone as their new partners in the desperate cause to enhance the computer skills of the pupils.
He spoke on the nature and origin of ST Foundation and recounted their immense contribution in providing computers, laptops, and free training programmes in various computer programming.
This, according to him, was possible through the support from a Switzerland based organization, ST Microelectronics Foundation.
Mr Dumbuya expressed his disappointment that five of the computers installed at the Bo School computer laboratory had been stolen prior to the official launching ceremony. He emphasized that it was the responsibility of the school’s management to take care of the equipment installed at the lab. He called on the school’s authorities to do everything possible to replace the stolen computers.
Mohamed Fofanah, the Bo branch President of OBBA who also doubles as Regional Manager Action Aid Sierra Leone, noted that the launching of the Super Coder Scratch project at the Bo School compound was very much significant for the overall project.
He praised the immense and outstanding contributions of Orange Sierra Leone over the years in various developmental programmes and encouraged them to do more.
The Bo branch OBBA President disclosed that he would ensure that the OBBA National Executive meeting scheduled to take place yesterday in Bo would have on its agenda the issue of the stolen computers.
“We will do all our best to ensure that we support the Police and the Bo School authorities to get at the bottom of this matter”, Mr Fofanah concluded.
The acting Regional Business Manager South, Augustus Bendu, spoke on the milestones of Orange Sierra Leone especially the outstanding and remarkable success of the Orange Money platform which, according to him, had been able to offer a reliable, secured and trusted financial platform that had impacted very significantly on individuals and businesses in Sierra Leone.
Mr Bendu also recounted the continuous rolling out of promotional products and services by Orange Sierra Leone, aimed at reducing internet and data prices for subscribers’ convenience.
Rebecca Sogbeh, the CSR Officer at Orange Sierra Leone, made a detailed and comprehensive PowerPoint presentation on the five key projects designed by Orange Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Education from the US$1.5 million commitment to support the Free Quality Education flagship project of President Bio.
She urged the pupils at the Bo School to make good use of the computer lab with a view to enhance their skills in technology which, she noted, was critical for the 21st Century job market.
The Paramount Chief of Kakua Chiefdom, Lappia Boima who officially launched the project at the school, hailed Orange Sierra Leone for selecting the Bo Government Secondary School for their Super Coder Project and for also fully supporting the President’s education flagship project.
He emphasized the fact that any education without the acquisition of technological skills was useless in this modern era, and urged both the teachers and pupils of the school to utilize the facilities for their own enhancement.