By Ralph Sesay in Bo
Sierra Leone’s leading telecoms operator, Orange Sierra Leone on Tuesday this week together with its partners launched the Super Coder Scratch Project at the Methodist Secondary High School in Bo.
The Methodist Secondary School in Bo is the eightieth school in the country, and the third in the southern province, to benefit from the super coder project jointly implemented by Orange Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education.
The project is in fulfillment of a commitment made by Orange Sierra Leone to provide US$1.5 million material assistance support to President Bio’s Free Quality Education project during the launching of the FQE on 20 August 2018 at the Miatta Conference Centre in Freetown.
The project is one among five projects that will be implemented by Orange Sierra Leone and its partners in the next five years.
The Principal Methodist High School Bo, Henry Koya, welcomed the Orange Sierra Leone delegation, their partners, and Educational stakeholders to his school in Bo and disclosed that whenever ST microelectronics foundation visited his school something good was bound to happen.
He thanked Orange Sierra Leone for choosing his school as a beneficiary of the Super Coder project, thereby leading to the empowerment of his pupils with the requisite ICT skills.
Mohamed Mustapha Dumbuya, the Country Director of ST microelectronics, noted that he was happy to introduce their new partners Orange Sierra Leone which, according to him, were moved to invest towards the technological advancement of school going kids in tandem with President Bio’s vision.
He spoke about the origin of ST foundation and recounted that the humanitarian organisation had worked relentlessly to train over 145 thousand school pupils and established thirty-one computer laboratories across various schools in the country with the exception of schools in Falaba, Karena, Kailahun, Pujehun and Bonthe Districts.
Mr Dumbuya disclosed that they had intentions to spread into more districts, having recently received a consignment of computers and accessories and solar panels.
Augustus Bendu, the Acting Regional Business Manager Southern Region, stated that Orange Sierra Leone as a multi-service provider was launching the Super Coder Projects in fulfillment of their earlier commitment to the Free Quality Education as pronounced during the launching of the scheme by President Bio.
Mr Bendu spoke on a number of positive interventions by Orange Sierra Leone in various sectors of the Sierra Leone economy.
He used the occasion to announce the introduction of special reduced internet offers for students dubbed SPAK. The promotion, according to him, was aimed at providing internet facilities at reduced cost to enable students browse and enjoy the internet.
The offer, he went on, was to provided 1.5 GB of internet at a cost of Le 9,500,000. This, he noted, was previously sold at Le 29,900 and a 2.5 GB for Le 15,000 previously sold at Le 60,000.00.
Rebecca Sogbeh, the CSR Officer at Orange Sierra Leone, made a detailed presentation on the five projects that would be implemented by Orange Sierra Leone and their partners and what they would stand to benefit as beneficiary schools.
The beneficiary schools, she stated, were selected jointly by Orange Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and that the five would be implemented in the next five years.
She underscored the point that as a company, they were always ready to give back to their subscribers and the citizens of Sierra Leone and not only interested in doing business in the country.
Madam Sogbeh recounted the various contributions of Orange Sierra Leone during the Mathormeh disaster and the Ebola scourge that hit the country in 2014.
Orange Sierra Leone, according to her, was currently sponsoring 50 Ebola orphans in collaboration with the SOS Children’s Village since 2014 to date.
She concluded by urging the pupils and Staff of Methodist Secondary School Bo to make good use of the computer laboratories which, according to her, would enable them develop basic coder computer skills to tell their own stories about their schools and communities using cartoon movies.
The Deputy Director Education Bo District, Mr M.B.Sesay, acknowledged the fact that the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education had worked with Orange Sierra Leone in rolling out five different projects in support of the Free Quality Education.
This, he noted, was complementing the efforts of Ministry of Basic Education and the Government of Sierra Leone who were poised to fully use the Free Quality Education to enhance the future of over two million school going kids in Sierra Leone.
He urged the school’s authorities and pupils of the Methodist High School to count themselves lucky to be selected among the 100 schools that would benefit from the project and lauded the contributions of Orange Sierra Leone towards this direction.
The Deputy Registrar at Njala University College, Tony Habib while officially launching the Super Coder Scratch project, admonished the school’s authorities and the pupils to make the best use of the facilities.
He hailed Orange Sierra Leone for significantly contributing to the innovation and technological innovation of the country and also for their interventions in many areas in the country’s economic and social development over the years.
Mr Habib further noted that the future was bright for the pupils of the Methodist High School and told them that he was seeing the next President, Accountants, and Doctors from the School. He congratulated them for being beneficiaries of the Orange Offer.
Lamrana Jalloh, the Head Girl, gave the vote of thanks and thanked Orange Sierra Leone, the school’s authorities, ST Foundation, and President Bio for giving them the opportunity to acquire Free and Quality Education at no cost.