Mrs. Madiana Samba of Action Aid International has said that “Sierra Leone is not yet matured for privatization”.
She made this statement while delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Executive Director of Action Aid International Mr. Tennyson Williams during the commemoration of World Teachers Day on October 5th at Hotel 5:10 in the East End of Freetown.
The statement was in line with the incessant decline in academic performance rate of children in mostly public schools in public exams. A contributing factor she highlighted was less attention paid to public schools when majority of average Sierra Leoneans cannot afford to send their children to a private school.
Mrs. Madiana Samba stated: “owing to poverty and sub-standards of living prevalent in the country, parents cannot afford to send their children to private schools because the cost is exorbitant. Similarly, if government decides to privatize water and some other basic necessities majority of Sierra Leoneans would not afford to pay for them”. This, she continued will result in socio-political instability since the poor would suggest they are being marginalized. “Based on this, even though the need is crucial for government to tackle its own domestic problems, yet the loopholes are many to facilitate the desired aspiration, especially when the World Bank and the IMF conditions are enormous” she added.
Mrs. Samba maintained that a reliable learning environment could only be enhanced if adequate treatment is meted out to all and sundry, adding that the classrooms are not equipped enough to match the number of pupils enrolled annually. She said that children cannot be taught without qualified teachers. The minimum requirement for a teacher teaching in a primary school in Europe is a master’s degree. She disclosed that about 18 million professional teachers are needed to be recruited globally by 2015 to ensure that all classes of a manageable size have not more than 40 children per teacher. She also said that there is urgency for recruitment of new teachers to teach in the rural areas, where there is enormous challenge to enlighten children in the suburbs to match with modern educational standards.
She further stated that the standard of living is too horrible for citizens of the country to the point that the alleged one dollar a day is an understatement. She maintained that the miserable performance of children in external exams, especially in public schools is due to the fact that teachers are not motivated to be able to fully engage the pupils for adequate preparation for external exams. Mrs. Samba also disclosed that teachers normally prefer teaching in private schools simply because they are better encouraged.
“There is the need for government schools to compete with private schools in both internal and external exams, and conditions of service for teachers should cut across every sphere without preference” Mrs. Samba suggested.
She admonished stakeholders to be proactive to put their issues forward when they attend big meetings where potential solutions to our numerous tasks are envisaged.
By Poindexter Sama
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