As part of its effort in boosting government’s Free Quality Education project, a state of the art Pre-School has been constructed in Korgbutuma village in Moyamba district by Sierra Leone’s leading telecoms company, Orange Sierra Leone.
It is called the St Michael Pre-School, and will serve as a feeder school to the primary school in the village as well as other primary schools in the community.
The three-classroom school has been handed over to the stakeholders in Kayamba Chiefdom in which Korgbutuma village is located.
It was commissioned yesterday by NATCOM (National Telecommunications Commission) Director-General, Daniel Kaitibie, a son of the chiefdom.
NATCOM is the regulator of Sierra Leone’s telecoms companies in Sierra Leone. The school caters for children of pre-primary school age. Parents will be entreated to enrol their children in the school, and not to take them to the farms during school hours.
The construction of the ultra-modern pre-school is a direct response to the people’s key desire of having an institution that would cater for the education needs of their children.
Plans of providing more facilities to the new school have also been divulged by Orange Sierra Leone. The Pre-School is one of the schools the company has constructed in several communities to support government’s vision of ensuring quality education in Sierra Leone.
The commissioning ceremony took place yesterday where several important personalities were in attendance. Speaking at the ceremony, Orange Foundation Director, Jestina Betts said the project was a big opportunity for the education of the young.
She appealed to the parents and Children of Kayamba community to take education seriously. Madam Betts told the public that this was the second pre-school to be launched as another pre-school was launched in the north-eastern headquaters of Makeni the previous month.
Orange Foundation Director was particularly pleased with the short period within which the project was completed.
Paying regular visits to the new school forms part of her schedule to get first-hand information about how the school is managed.
“I will pay regular visits to the community to see how the school is run,” she assured.
In his address to his people, the Chiefdom Speaker, Adu Gboyawa saw the commissioning of the new school as a big day for the children of Kayamba Chiefdom.
While appreciating Orange Sierra Leone for a marvellous work they have been doing in the district, Chief Gboyawa called on the children of the district to appreciate education noting that the future belonged to them.
“The children are the real owners of Sierra Leone,” he said.
Owing to the good work Orange Sierra Leone has been doing in the district, the Chiefdom Speaker called on the telecoms company to do more.
He assured the benefactor (Orange Sierra Leone) that the building would be utilised for its purpose.
Member of Parliament (MP), Honourable Simeon Fefegula also made statements during the occasion.
The MP was thrilled for words for the construction of what he referred to as “a wonderful Pre-school.”
The school, he said, complemented the effort of government in its flagship project of Free Quality Education.
Hon Fefegula also referred to the company as one that had done a lot since the New Direction Government took over state governance.
The telecoms company, the member of parliament, went on, had been working in close collaboration with the community to know the people’s felt needs.
“Through its partnership, the company has contributed a lot to national development,” he said.
Hon Fefegula reminded the people of Moyamba district that when the New Direction Government took over state governance, it promised the people of Sierra Leone that its focus would be education adding that Orange Sierra Leone had worked towards that direction.
He also established a link between pre-schooling and government’s flagship project of quality education.
“Pre-school enhanced Free Quality Education,” he said.
As the telecoms company sets to boost the country’s development, the MP appealed for more complimentary effort from the company.
The Ministry of Education was also represented by the Deputy Director of Education Kai Wuseni.
Mr Wuseni saw the construction of the school as a big opportunity at the doorsteps of the community noting that it was about revamping the education sector.
He reminded the audience that President Julius Maada Bio campaigned on the platform of ensuring free quality education in Sierra Leone.
The main objective behind the quality education scheme is to see that no parent pays fees for a pupil in public schools adding that Orange Sierra Leone has thrown its weight behind the President’s vision.
“Orange Sierra Leone remains number-one in supporting the President’s vision of improving Free Quality Education in Sierra Leone,” he said.
He also equally admonished parents not to take children to the farms, but to get them enrolled in the new pre-school to tap into the education opportunity afforded by the telecoms company.
Mr Wuseni assured Orange Sierra Leone that his ministry has trained inspectors to ensure an effective school monitoring system from which he hopes to get the required feedback.
The monitoring system, he said, was informed by the amount of money government had spent in the country’s education project.
“Government has spent so much money, and we must not allow that effort to go down the drain,” he appealed.
The keynote address was made by Director-General for NATCOM, Daniel Kaitibie who saw the ceremony as a special day.
He told the audience that it was the first time for him to commission a building in the education sector.
The NATCOM Director-General who described the project as a tangible effort also re-echoed the notion that it was a support to the Free Quality Education.
He was quite sure that with the construction of the new school the phrase: ‘Catch Them Young’ will be operationalised.
“Toddlers will go to school, and no longer join their parents on the farms during school sessions,” he said.
Mr Kaitibie also called on the community to take good care of school and its resources. He also warned them not to transform the pre-school into a primary school.
The NATCOM Director-General pledged to donate a generator and a computer lab to bolster the newly constructed school.
The donation of a computer lab, he said, was to actualise the President’s vision of digitalisation.
“This is the fourth Industrial Revolution,” he said, “and the President wants to see that communication service reaches the last man,” he said.
In a related development, Orange Sierra Leone has also promised to have a communication site in the Kayamba Chiefdom to connect the people to the universe.
The survey for the site has commenced, and the technicians are now being directed as to where to install the communication pole.
The communication installation is a project that is sure to be completed within this year so that the community would benefit from Orange Sierra Leone’s wide-ranging services.
If installed, Kayamba chiefdom stands to benefit from effective communication, internet services, data, Orange Money among others.