By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) Manifesto for the period 2023-2028 which was launched by President Julius Maada Bio in Kenema on Tuesday this week has committed to improving Universal Access and Radical Inclusion in Education initiatives and enhancing Comprehensive Safety, Quality Teaching, and Learning.
It said with the passage of the Basic and Senior Secondary Education Act 2023, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) has set the sector on a path to continue to show even more remarkable improvements.
On Education Governance, the manifesto notes that foundational learning should include a minimum of one-year pre-primary education, six years of primary education, three years of junior secondary education, and three years of senior secondary education, including technical/vocational.
The campaign document promises to strengthen education management and data use, governance, and accountability through appropriate policy reforms, evidence-based planning, and rationalized delivery of service.
If elected again, the governing SLPP in its manifesto promised to strengthen community ownership and local investment towards schools particularly those based in rural communities as well as strengthen supervision and accountability mechanisms for schools, targeting the Inspectorate Division and Teaching Service Commission.
On Education Financing, it says it will rationalize resource allocation across the various levels of education with clear guidelines, to maintain 22% of the government budget to the sector using sustainable financing models and develop new innovative financing education models including Outcomes Fund, and debt swaps.
It states the administration’s commitment to improve the Conditions of Service of Teachers by developing a special incentive scheme for specialized teachers including those teaching Science and French.
It will also develop a special incentive scheme for teachers in remote or hard-to-reach areas and those in special needs institutions.
It promises to implement the terms in the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed with the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) and increase teacher recruitment to service foundational learning.
Promoting the development of child-friendly schools that will be provided with recreational and toilet facilities, safe places and constructing additional student hostels for pupils attending different schools in every district headquarter town, and supporting schools with boarding facilities, are other areas mentioned in the manifesto.
The SLPP manifesto also aims at providing a safe, healthy, and conducive educational environment, enhancing emergency prevention, preparedness, response, recovery for all educational institutions and enforcing the Policy on radical inclusion, and promoting effective corrective measures for discipline.
The administration intends to develop Child Safeguarding Guidelines that schools can adopt, and make it mandatory for all schools to have Guidance Counseling services including a confidentiality system for children to report abuses freely.
It plans to upgrade and strengthen in-service teacher training as well as introduce pre-service training to at least an additional 20,000 (twenty-thousand) teachers in collaboration with partners. The government will strengthen the use of technology to support teaching and learning, innovation, and creativity which can include the establishment of teaching centres of excellence that provide computer training for teachers in every district.
School connectivity nationwide is to be promoted through targeted interventions, Teacher registration and licensure implemented, community libraries and science laboratories to be made available, and pre-service and in-service training provided. Also, there will be provisions for classroom coaching for teachers to improve their teaching competencies in collaboration with partners.
Career options or diversification at an early stage are to be expanded, standardize and formalize apprenticeship learning schemes for both in-school and out-of-school children, as well as introduce compulsory parallel skills training programmes through standardized apprenticeship schemes for students in formal schools.
Educating students at an early stage to equally understand the importance of TVET/TECVOC (Technical and Vocational Education and Training/ Technical Vocational) will be a focus of the government.
The manifesto says despite successes in the last five years, more still needs to be done at the basic education level.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (26/05/23)
