UNICEF welcomes ‘Week of Education’ focus on quality and construction of new education radio station

Freetown, 12 December 2015 – Construction work formally begins today on a radio station for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), made possible through support from UNICEF and the IKEA Foundation. The turning of the sod for the MEST radio station on Saturday 12 December comes at the close of a ‘Week of Education’ (6-12 December) focused on the theme of improving quality in Sierra Leone’s education system.

Events nationwide throughout the week included a two-day Education Sector Review, the presentation of the preliminary results of the 2015 school census (the first since the Ebola outbreak) and the launch of the MEST situation room (to improve data generation and management) with equipment provided by UNICEF with support from DFID.

As part of discussions around improving quality, a 2014 assessment of early grade (2 and 4) reading and mathematics standards in Sierra Leone, presented by UNICEF and the MEST, revealed that many children are not meeting basic requirements in numeracy and literacy.

“We all need to work together to lift standards and better serve children with quality education, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals,” said the UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone, Geoff Wiffin. “As part of the overall Ebola recovery plan, the Ministry – with support from partners – should continue to focus on improving the quality of learning outcomes; strengthening teacher training, supervision and mentoring; ensuring education materials are provided; and strengthening the implementation of school performance-based incentives.”

There is still some way to go to meet the government’s commitment to providing nine years of basic education to all children, in part because of the need to build more junior secondary schools. Education officials also continue to report high numbers of children dropping out of education.

As one strategy for enhancing education, the planned new radio facility will give the Ministry the tools to build on the successes of the school radio project set-up during the Ebola outbreak when schools were closed, and now used for additional education services for those in and out of school.

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