Sierra Leone before this time was known as the ‘Anthems of West Africa’ in the academic field, but the sudden surge and continued growth in enrolment has forced some head teachers to enroll Untrained and Unqualified (UU) teachers.
In a report titled “impact of public wage bill and caps on teachers”, it is disclosed that budget shortages and wage bill ceilings are compounding the problem as this leaves government and communities with little or no choice but to hire untrained teachers.
The country before this time had a very good number of professional teachers but due to poor working conditions, delay or absence of salaries, the 11 years war, and the overall wages have made lots of these trained teachers to leave for neighboring countries.
Teachers’ retention is also another factor for trained teachers to leave for other countries as most of them leave the field for highly paid jobs since there is no motivation for them in the classroom.
It is revealed that in the past government used to provide housing allowances, transportation and additional stipends to attract teachers in the rural areas but these are now lacking.
This as a result has lead communities to hire anyone with any level of education to teach in schools.
It is further revealed that these unqualified teachers have little opportunity to further their own educational status.
ADVERTISEMENT