When you went to the Milton Margai Teachers College before the mid eighties, you suddenly realized that education was the sweetest thing on earth. Never mind the bogus talk about comparing Bailor Barrie and Davidson- Nicol. When you think of those official dinners when you were supposed to dress like a European then you realize how different you had already become simply because you were in College. Of course if in later years you enter Fourah Bay College then you were on top of the world. The term “Up College” had so much magic…calling it was like having the ‘Midas Touch’. So much so that even when other colleges were built on flat lands they still continued to say “Up College.”
In those days you could crash at any party and you will be tolerated just because you were a student. You go to Goderich or Lumley Beach; the fish mongers will be begging you to have some fish. Oh those were the glorious days of student hood. Students only bothered about their studies and not cooking food. Electricity was 24hours and pipe borne water flowed like nobody’s business. I am not saying all this as if those days were all that glorious. There were still student riots here and there, but their lives were slow, easy and stable. Those were the days when the likes of Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Sonya Spence, Marvin Gaye and the Congolese musicians rocked the student world. How about Eddie Grant, Billy Ocean and the rest…
If only standards in education could have been painstakingly maintained over the years, then I think my country would not be struggling to rebrand and try to build a new image. How can you rebrand your image when you depend on other countries for you to the-the? This is not a joke. In this electronic age most of our Ministries cannot boast of computerized systems and the bulk of the senior staff are yet to even have an email address let alone explore the internet. Many senior civil servants have been cut off by the electronic trend. If Gold rust what will iron do?
I have been looking at data on schools in the Koinadugu district, which every body seems to agree is the most developmentally depraved district in the whole country. Well we might equally say the same for most of the districts bordering with Guinea and Liberia.
I think a basic problem of education is not directly caused by education but other related factors, key among which are poor roads. Please don’t ask me why poor roads…I simply don’t know. Koinadugu has a whole lot of natural resources; the landscape is second to none in the country. You are forced to admire natures’ handiwork around Kabala the district headquarter town.
The lovely vistas sharpened by the rocky hills and forests looking down on the valleys with swamps that supply the much needed food right in town is a natural luxury not common to many districts. No wonder white people love living in kabala so much. I can’t even talk about the cool weather.
But my, oh my you leave Kabala town and try to reach the ends of this vast district and you will definitely curse the day you decided to step out of Kabala.
The remoteness of some of the communities makes you wonder whether you were not actually somewhere else. Statistics have shown that the North and the south of the Country have very low rating in girl child education. Because of this realization some projects like the Ambassador Girls Scholarship Scheme has been helping to boost education for girls in the two regions. However recent statistics of girls going through primary schools do not necessarily get through Secondary. The Ministry of Education staff and other stakeholders in Koinadugu District have just compiled a very revealing statistics on the NPSE Examination Results that have been released. Koinadugu District in the 2007/2008 school year had a total of 294 primary schools with 70,118. This year a total of 3,505 candidates took the NPSE, 2,099 Boys and 1,406 girls. Out of this numbers, 1,845 boys passed and 1,309 girls passed. The number of AGSP sponsored pupils that passed were: 349, 116 boys and 233 girls. Out of 11 Chiefdoms girls passed in 7, while boys passed in 9.
This good statistics for the girls are not however translated into the secondary schools. In 2007/2008 school year while 5,449 boys were enrolled at JSS level, only 1,987 girls were enrolled. The question is at primary level it was just a difference of about 6000 in favor of boys. Now where are the rest of the girls who were enrolled into primary schools in Koinadugu District? Along the way the AGSP Projects accommodated boys, bringing into question the real objective of the Girls Scholarship Scheme. This is real food for thought for our Women Parliamentary Caucus who admire the Rwandan pattern of women’s representation in Parliament. Women’s emancipation is very much dependent on the quality of education and preparation for the rigors of life in this 21st century competitive world. Don’t tell me most of the women Parliamentarians are not well lettered. For one to contribute well in our Parliament you must read and speak the English language very well. Remember English is still the official language of Sierra Leone.
There seems to be a growing trend of more women working than before. I know couples who have to eat in restaurant because there is no time for the wife to cook after work.
I am sure many homes in Freetown don’t have the wives cooking. This is left in the hands of a ward, relative or a paid house help.
Let us come back to the question of why girls hardly finish secondary school especially in parts of the north and east. Don’t start with teenage pregnancy; find out first what leads to teenage pregnancy. For me I think my first reason could be remoteness. When the country side is left depraved with the basic socio-economic factors that promote livelihood growth, then people do kind of zero grazing. Not much effort to aspire for higher things. They seem content with what they can find around in their locality.
There is another very important factor attached to this remoteness. This is the remuneration for teachers in school. It is interesting to browse the teacher remuneration statistics for Koinadugu 2007 /2008 school year. At the Primary level a total of 1,354 teachers are engaged. Out of this number 787 are paid and the rest of 567 are the responsibility of their communities! What ever that means,
I don’t know.
If such a high number is more or less neglected then what future does this country hold? What beats my imagination is that most of the decision makers occupying big offices in Freetown are products of some of the remotest areas in the country. In Koinadugu District the highest concentration of primary schools is in Neini Chiefdom and not Kabala town. When you put the two Chiefdoms that share Kabala Town you’ll find a very little difference with Neini. I think in terms of girl child education we really have an educational emergency. Where do we start addressing this huge problem of educational growth?
By S. Beny SAM
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