A native of Bumban, Mr. Yarta Sesay and his American co-sponsors and Mr and Mrs Bolsaver, both resident in Houston, Texas in the United States of America, have invested billions of dollars in the construction and support to a Science School in Bumban town in Biriwa Chiefdom, Bombali District, northern Sierra Leone.
Mr. Sesay who happens to be a native of the town told nightwatch that he was moved to undertake the venture some six years back when realized that the town and its surrounding villages lack schools.
Children, according to him, walk fourteen (14) miles to and from the chiefdom headquarter town of Kamabai to access schooling.
Bumban High School Teachers
This, he continued, was what led him to start a school project. He was later joined by his co-sponsors in the US and a six classroom building with a library, science laboratories, four (4) blocks of two apartments each for the teaching staff were constructed for the new Bumban High School in 2013.
The school has sustainable water and electricity facilities, adding that together with his co-sponsors, they are supporting a fully fledged school feeding program which, he noted, has greatly contributed to the retention rate in the school.
The school has thirteen (13) teachers and four other workers such as cooks, security guards etc that are paid promptly by the proprietors.
Pupils listening to teaching
According to estimates, they are spending over USD 5,000 monthly to run the school and over US$ 60,000 annually, and that such expenses according to Mr. Sesay, include teachers’ salaries, food items, fuel and diesel to run the generators.
Mr. Sesay appealed to government and the private sector to support the school, as it is constrained by mobile network and this, he noted, has challenged the retention of quality teachers at the school.
He expressed satisfaction that he has been able to give back to his community and that both parents and pupils of the school are reciprocating towards the gesture by him and his co-sponsors.
Mr. Sesay says there are plans to construct more buildings to transform the school into a bordering home that can provide accommodation for pupils throughout the academic year.
Speaking to nigthwatch, the Principal of the School, Mr. Sorie Sheku Conteh, a retired and experienced teacher from Saint Francis Secondary School in Makeni, disclosed that he took up the mantle of leadership of the school in January, 2019 after the previous staff was overhauled by the proprietor of the school.
He furthered that he has established a very vibrant staff and that they have completed preparing candidates for the first West African School Certificate Examinations in which a total of 24 candidates were sent to take the exams.
Mr. Conteh applauded the proprietors for undertaking a completely free education program that resonates with the government’s free education flagship project.
School pupils around the school campus
He continued that government should complement the initiative of Mr. Sesay and his co-sponsors. The Principal also lauded the support of the Community and the Board of the School, as well as the teaching staff for providing immense support to the school.
Chief Yayah 111 of Bumban section noted that he is overwhelmed by the huge support Mr. Sesay and his co-sponsors in the United States have provided for his people.
He highlighted the fact that the children of Bumban and the surrounding villages in his section were deprived of access to schooling as they have to walk over fourteen miles to access a school.
The Section Chief lauded the immense contribution of the proprietors which, according to him, has largely decreased the once high teenage pregnancy that prevailed in the area over the years.
“As a community, we are fully engaged in the management and running of the school. We are also involved in providing labour and local materials for the continuous extention and upgrading of the school,” the Chief pointed out.
Chief Yayah 111 also praised Mr. Sesay for supporting the strengthening of the town’s only water source and the provision of additional support to the Saint Theresa Primary School and another school in Kathombo in the Safroko Limba Chiefdom.
Joseph Conteh, Principal Bumban High School
Sia Sessie and Paul Sesay who are both SSS 2 pupils of the Bumban High School, praised the sponsors of the School and explained how they have come from far and distanced villages after learning that the school offers free education.
They further told nightwatch that teaching and learning at the Bumban High School is of a very high quality and both of them recounted issues such as sex for grades and extortion which is prevalent in other public schools which they had previously attended, is rare at the Bumban High School.
Sia and Paul thanked the sponsors for the free meals and science laboratories which, according to them, have aided teaching and learning in the school.
They hoped to complete their high school next academic year and later pursue courses in Medicine. Sia and Paul are 15 and 20 years respectively.
David Sesay, the oldest teacher in the School also thanked the sponsors for establishing free education for the past six years at Bumban, and lauded the prompt payment of their salaries by the sponsors coupled with accommodation facilities with water and electricity.
He expressed the determination of the teaching staff to produce laurels for the school.
Nightwatch also spoke to the Cook, Veronica Sesay and the Home Economics teacher, the only female in the teaching staff, about their work and they both pointed out the significance of the school feeding program, noting that pupils who come from distance areas and or villages are encouraged by the fact that they are able to secure a decent meal which would sustain them until they go back home.
Mrs. Sesay also thanked the co-sponsors for providing food items promptly every month to feed over four hundred pupils in both primary and secondary school.
She concluded by calling on the Government of Sierra Leone to applaud and commend the efforts of the co-sponsors for the initiative.
The nightwatch team was also shown a multipurpose hall, three classroom blocks with decent toilet facilities, as well as a computer room.
The hall has capacity to host over one thousand people, and that this is part of the continuous effort of the proprietors to bring the school up to quality standards.
The new Government of Sierra Leone recently introduced the Free Quality Education program in August, 2018 for Primary up to High School.
The scheme contains free tuition fees, core textbooks and learning materials, payment of all external examinations both at Junior and high school levels.
Teachers quarter blocks at Bumban High school
There are also commitments to introduce school feeding and bus services for pupils in major provincial towns and for the first time in the country’s history, the Government has allocated 21% of its budget to Education.
The Free Quality Education is seriously challenged by very poor remuneration for teachers across the country, as most schools in the country are either privately owned or community schools.
These schools are not part of the scheme even when they have the bulk of the children attending schools in the country.
One year down the line, government is trying to co-opt these schools into the government supported schools with a view to approve their teachers and also provide support to the running of these schools.