MP Revives Schlenker Old Students
The APC Member of Parliament for Constituency 49, Port Loko District, Hon. Alhaji Seray Dumbuya on Saturday 29th June, 2013 summoned a meeting of the Schlenker Old Students Association (SOSA) at the London Supermarket, Lumley Beach owned by Alimamy G. Kamara, aka Peter De Cat, both of them old boys of the school.
The meeting was chaired by the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Raymond Kabia, himself an old boy of the school who commended the MP for the initiative to revive the Association to rehabilitate the school to regain its past glory as the Oxford of Port Loko District and the North as a whole.
Hon. Alhaji Serray Dumbuya further stated that Schlenker has produced prominent personalities who must give back to the school highlighting the need to rehabilitate the staff quarters and classrooms that were occupied by former fighters who were supervised by the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration (NCDDR).
He lamented that during the NCDDR process, the school facilities were completely vandalized including the roof recalling that the school was established in 1959 to enhance education in the district with the motto; ‘Service: Serve the Truth, Seek the Truth and Speak the Truth.’
According to Hon. Alhaji Serray Dumbuya, the Association has budgeted Le 100 million for the renovation of the school structures like the staff quarters, boarding home and classrooms and that substantial amount has been raised towards the project but urged all that the Association must start somewhere before seeking Government and other support and appealed to old students for their assistance.
Deputy Education, Science and Technology Minister, Mamoud Tarawallie welcomed the idea asserting that the school has produced people in prominent positions and named Hon. Alhaji Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay, Minister of Political and Public Affairs, Alpha Kholifa Koroma, Chief Immigration Officer, former Police Inspector General, Brima Acha Kamara, the current Principal, C. S. Kamara and Abdul Karim Koroma of SLRTA among others.
The school has been in a dilapidated state since the end of the war in 2000 for which the Principal, C. S. Kamara has written several proposals to Government, NaCSA and NGOs among others for their support to rehabilitate the school but without success.
It was further alleged that the erstwhile SLPP Government provided funds for the rehabilitation of the school but that the funds were diverted to another school while NCDDR reneged on its commitment to rehabilitate the school after the disarmament process.
Although the school is doing well in external examinations, it cannot be compared to the period when the school had staff quarters and a boarding home.
“Before the war, Schlenker was very ideal for learning as it had all the facilities which caused pupils to study after normal school hours. But now, pupils taking external examinations trek a mile or more to the school that affects their performance,” Mohamed Bangura, an old student, noted.
By Abdul R. B. Kamara
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