By Amadu Koroma
October 7 2019.
His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio, one of the applauses in forming his cabinet, was the division of the former Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education and The Ministry of Technical and Higher Education headed by Mr. Alpha Timbo and Dr. Aiah Gbakima, respectively. This is an unprecedented approach in the educational system of Sierra Leone, but probably to challenge the ambitious project – providing free and quality education, the flagship program of the president’s campaign that brought his government to power. The MBSSE ministry concerns about education from nursery school to the senior secondary schools’ education. The expected outcome of this ministry is for students to pass successfully and acquire results for colleges and universities. On the other hand, MTHE is in charge of education in colleges and higher learning institutions, including universities. The expected outcome of this ministry is to produce eligible graduates, trained to meet the demands of the job market.
Since his election in 2018, the president has committed to improving the standard of education. As a fulfillment of his flagship program, the president launched the Free and Quality Education program last year. In his vision, the president’s initiative is to improve human capital development in the country. The hope is that the F&QE will encourage more school attendees and fill the economic inequality gap for every Sierra Leonean to gain basic and higher education.
Year in year out, students spend precious time attending school. Education, either lower or higher Stage, since we came across it during the colonial period, has been a significant factor in assessing individual or institutional progress. The education we obtain in schools does not only provide individual accolades but also supposedly serves as a training ground to meet the demands of the job market. Before delving into the outcome of the educational process of students and graduates and its effects, it is essential to highlight the structures that make-up the educational system in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone, just like any other African country, has formal and informal education. The formal education has been the higher demand of the Sierra Leonean populace. Three key players in the education system include the ministries – the guardians of the education system; the schools/colleges/universities – service providers; and the pupils/students/apprentice – primary beneficiaries of the services provided by the formal educational system in the country. Understanding the roles and functions of the guardians, the service providers, and the beneficiaries – their challenges, could help to identify the missing puzzles that led to the 2019 massive failures; the lost glory of the Athens of West Africa, and how it could be improved.
While this initiative was applauded, the past one and half years, the implementation of the F&QE program has instead exposed the dilapidated condition of the education system in the country. What we have seen in the last two years, one could argue that the education system was abandoned or never taken seriously by the previous administrations. The poor conditions of the schools, long distance to access school in the provinces, the lack of proper learning materials, lack of qualified teachers, exam malpractices in all forms (bribery, sex for grades, etc.) are among the challenges affecting the education system. To summerise it all, the 2019 external examination results expose the weaknesses of the education system. For example, about 95% failed the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination as announced by the MBSSE. It is a nightmare for the start of the F&QE program. Imagine a system that has been recklessly handled for a long time, and yet President Bio and his team decided to challenge the status quo.
These bring the question, has the education system been working well? Hold on to your answer for now; there are many schools of thought on the education system in Sierra Leone. Here are some measures for consideration by all concern stakeholders.
Service Providers – Schools, Colleges, and Universities: Each academic year, high attending schools including, Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School, Government Rokel Secondary School, Government Model Secondary School, Sierra Leone Muslim Brotherhood, Anzaru Islamic School, Congress, St Joseph Secondary School, Edwards Secondary School, Bishop Johnson Memorial School, to name a few, send thousands or hundreds of pupils to take external examination. Have we ever asked ourselves what the percentage of passing students yearly for these schools individually? How many of these schools could boast of producing 35% yearly minimum of students getting the requirement from external exams? And if a school continues to under-perform and not meet the threshold for consecutive 3 or 4 years, is that school up to the task of serious learning? I think this could be where the MBSSE should intervene as guidance of the education system in Sierra Leone to question for value for money/service.
What could be done?
First, there should be a threshold requirement in external exams for government and government-assisted schools. For example, each school should be able to produce a minimum of 35% of students getting a requirement from an external examination (NPSE, BECE, and WASSCE). Any school failing to meet the threshold for consecutive three years should be demoted or suspended from operation. Or, even close the school if they continue to underperform for a second or third period. There should be no excuse, especially when the schools are now receiving from the consolidated funds the full tuition fees on time and assisted with learning materials and textbooks to deliver excellent services. This will encourage regular assessment of the performances of the government and government-assisted schools.
Another lack of performance is on the syllabus. The syllabus is meant to guide students and teachers of what is expected of them to learn for a term or academic year. It is not a secret that the majority of the students taking external exams don’t complete their syllabuses. This should be the responsibility of all the parties. Teachers should make available a detailed typed syllabus of their various subjects to the students for photocopying or printing. The teacher should ensure every student has a copy of the syllabus by the second meeting. The syllabus could be broken down into weekly activities, for the rest of the term. This will allow the Teaching Service Commission from the MBSSE to monitor over time the progress of the learning in schools. It is also upon the student to keep in touch with their syllabus for every subject. If you are in for the external exam, you may ask the school to provide you the West African Education Council (WAEC) syllabus or get them from the WAEC office. The syllabus could help to keep you on track with your timely activities, take note of your weaknesses, and revise in your spare time. If you are a student who only wants to study and pass the exam, you could also acquire some question and answer textbooks. This will guide you on how to go about answering some questions; practice makes perfect.
On the side of the schools, the proprietors or missionaries should take into consideration the effective management or operation of their academic institution. Is the school administration hiring qualified and result oriented teachers? Is the principle or headteacher crowding the classrooms with high intakes to get more funds? Are the teachers properly monitored to completing their various syllabuses? If the answers to these questions are shortcoming, it would be just to hold the head of the school administration accountable. Replacing them with young and energetic leaders could create healthy competition and effective learning.
Moreover, the parents fitting in the category of the service providers should know about school where they register their children. Avoid the underperforming schools; when the students fail, they cannot recover the time lost. Use the education website to check for high performing schools before registering your children.
In conclusion, for effective and result oriented education system in the country, these three pillars – the guardians (education ministries), service providers (schools and parents), and the beneficiaries (pupils and students) must make concerted efforted to achieve this goal. The education ministries, through the Teaching Service Commission, should monitor and set thresholds for the performance of the schools in external examination. The school proprietors or missionaries should consider the effective operation of their academic institutions, holding headteachers or principals accountable for continuous poor performance could save the image of the school. Finally, the student should always be familiar with their syllabus and engage it to avoid incomplete study of reading materials for classwork and external examination.
