The Type of Education Sierra Leone Needs

Education in the country for the past two years has been tagged as the most retrogressive sector in the country. This is evident from the poor outcome in examinations in the country. In recent times, many actors in the educational sector have been complaining about the ugly and deplorable state of affairs in academic parlance. On a larger scale, high illiteracy abounds and the crawling spate of affairs blighting the educational system is a very worrisome phenomenon in the development of the country from a holistic point of view.   

It is apparent that the high illiteracy rate among the community people has been largely due to their inability to afford formal education and other forms of training for future employment. The larger part of our society has no employable skill, youths in particular are densely entrapped in this scenario and as such could not afford the employment they always crave and cause noise for.  

The reason why this problem is very serious in Sierra Leone is that this is a country where a large percentage of the people have not been given the opportunity to attend school, or many have dropped out school even before attaining the primary education. Even though the country has a high potential of functional literacy programmes; the people cannot effectively use this opportunity to achieve self sufficiency and it’s not therefore evident in the development of the nation. If this problem is left unsolved, the country’s drive towards rural development will fail.

Sierra Leone, like most African nations is confronted with a serious threat to development. A case study on the National Primary School Examination results which came out last week with 65% failures nationwide shows there is a need for serious consideration in the manner in which education is being conducted in the country.

There are a lot of mitigating factors responsible. Among these is the lack of commitment on the part of the government to pay teachers attractive salaries and to do so on time. There is also the seeming breakdown of moral respect and the lack of government’s commitment in putting control behaviors that militate against committed and proper schooling.

The problem of poor educational standards in the country is not helped by the fact that the 6,3,3,4 educational system introduced by a former military regime has created problems rather than solutions. Basically, before introducing the system, there should have been a thorough examination of several issues, including the socio-economic and cultural impact in this country, and the existing systems available in the absence of school time before introducing the 6,3,3,4 educational system, which we are not capable and prepared to upgrade, as compared to other countries like Ghana and Nigeria.

Since the establishment of this system, education has woefully failed in the country. In fact, I don’t know what is happening with the minister who is responsible for education. Dr. Alpha Wurie was much better. Through my observation, I see that primary schools are going without school materials. As an example, during the last National Primary School Exams which took place in May, pupils were seen taking their exams using hurricane lamps. Is that development?

AU sponsored research shows there is a correlation between literacy and economic development. Therefore, they believe that a minimum rate of 40% of literacy in a country’s population is necessary for meaningful development to take place.  But Sierra Leone is not part of such plan as our education system is rapidly decreasing.

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!

© 2009, https:. All rights reserved.