By Donstance Koroma
President Bio has yesterday launched core textbooks and other teaching and learning materials at the Government Technical Secondary School, Congo Cross in Freetown. The books are support to the first package of the Free and Quality Education (FAQE) that was launched in August, 2018.
During the launching, President Bio noted that the FAQE was founded on five key principles: including access, quality and resources, retention, completion and post conviction.
He continued that his government has provided textbooks for primary schools in subjects like Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies.
For the Junior Secondary School, President Bio went on, his government has also provided textbooks in Social Studies, Civic Education and the Sciences; while for the Senior Secondary School textbooks have been made available in English and Mathematics.
The President disclosed that a ‘textbook to a child is a like a cutlass to a farmer’. He cautioned that people caught using these textbooks for other purpose other than what they are meant for will face public disgrace and the full penalty of the law.
The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Lawyer Alpha Osman Timbo, noted that the launching of the textbooks has proven the detractors of the Free and Quality Education wrong. The teaching and learning materials, the Minister said, are for both Government and Government -assisted schools.
The Government, he noted, has spent Le221 billion to procure the textbooks. According to him, it is the highest amount of money ever spent by a government for procuring textbooks and learning materials.
Pupils not attending Government and Government assisted schools will also benefit from the textbooks. This is because the Education Ministry is making arrangements with the Sierra Leone Library Board (through the Chief Librarian) to provide each library with copies of the textbooks so that pupils in these schools will access them for study purposes.
Minister Timbo disclosed that the Education Ministry is aware that Falaba and Karene Districts, in the north, currently lack Education offices and District libraries. However he assured all that the Education Ministry is exploring interim possibilities to get more school structures fixed in the not too distant future.
He noted that the core textbooks are also in braille for the visually impaired to benefit. The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education reiterated that individuals found with these textbooks illegally will face the full force of the law.
DFIF Country Representative, Mary Hunt, stated that the UK Government is very proud to work with the new government on their flagship project, especially the quality aspect of the scheme. She disclosed that pupils in the country are not actually taught effectively in schools.
Mary Hunt disclosed that a school assessment, recently conducted by DFIF, have revealed that Sierra Leonean pupils in public schools are doing abysmally poor in English and Mathematics. She noted that the 2.7 million books provided by the government will help improve the teaching of English and Mathematics.
The Chairman, Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Basic Education, Hon. Dominic J.T. Lavalie, called on President Bio to pay attention to improving the conditions of the teachers as they are pivotal in the implementation of the Free and Quality Education. He continued that SLTU cannot be trusted as the only body to negotiate on behalf of the teachers as, according to him, they have lost control over teachers in the country.
Her Worship the Mayor of Freetown, Iyvonne Aki-Sawyyer, pledged her Council’s commitment to the FAQE, noting that the municipality has 368 municipal schools in the bracket of the government and government assisted schools.
She further disclosed that her Council is linking the FAQE with sanitation. She noted that water is a serious challenge in all the 368 municipal schools for which the Council and the Ministry of Water Resources and other relevant authorities are currently working to address.
President Bio Unveils Le221 Bn Worth of Textbooks
