By Ragan M. Conteh
The Member of Parliament from the Coalition for Change in Kono District, representing Constituency 027, Hon. Francis Bhendu, has disclosed, to nightwatch in Parliament, that the initiative, by President Bio to introduce the free quality education, is good, as it addresses the economic challenges faced by the people.
According to the Hon. Francis Bhendu, some Sierra Leoneans find it very difficult to earn their daily living talk less of providing to send their children to better schools, a development that has resulted to so many dropouts in the country. He said the government is paying huge sums of taxpayers’ money in order to support the pupils taking public exams all over the country.
Hon. Francis Bhendu has observed, of late, the massive failure in the recent WASSCE exams, particularly in Kono district (where he comes from).
“We are all casting blame on the pupils forgetting to look at the causes of such an unfortunate situation. You will be surprised to know that the Ministry of Education employed new invigilators, to invigilate all public exams, the SLP, RSLAF and the Anti-corruption staff,” he said.
The MP said one of the contributing factors, which led to the massive failure in his village and other towns, is the presence of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and the Anti-corruption personnel in the examination hall during the last examination. He intimated that the presence of the said enforcement agencies’ personnel created panic, fear and intimidation to the students.
Hon Bhendu advised the Ministry of Education that, in future, the new invigilators should stay outside of the examination hall and allow the professionals (teachers) who are trained for that purpose to handle the exams otherwise the desired goal for education will be difficult to achieve. The scarcity of trained and qualified teachers, in remote communities, is also contributing factors for the massive failure.
The MP pointed out that President Bio promised to give remote allowance to teachers in hard-to-reach communities. “Until now such benefit is not realized,” he told colleague MPs.
“I will recommend that government should pay the remote allowance to teachers in remote communities and ensure that all teacher training institutions are free of cost. They should train more teachers and depoliticize teacher recruitment process for the benefit of all,” he said.
Hon Bhendu went further that the Grant-In-Aid is a laudable venture, so he must thank President and the minister for such allocation.
“I am only concerned with the distribution of the opportunity. Is it equitable? Because all Sierra Leoneans have equal right when it comes to distribution or gaining access to our national cake irrespective of one’s color or region,” he said.
For the current private WASSCE, the MP says, the Speaker need to see the timetable. He will pity those taking the private exam, adding that, “Imagine someone staying at Goderich and has a paper to sit at Waterloo. And the next day you have another paper at Masiaka, so on and so forth.”
The MP questioned what is happening to education. “Are we making education difficult, affordable or accessible for our people? By the time the exams is finish you would have spent well over 300 to 500 thousand Leones. Can Sierra Leoneans afford that? Minister, where are you?” he asked.