By Abubakarr Bah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Former First Lady of the United States of America, and arguably one of the most successful, influential and inspiring first ladies in the world, Michelle Obama, once said that "the secret to everything in life, every aspiration, every opportunity, is education." She further added that "there is nothing more important than being serious about your education,” noting that it was the secret behind her achievements in life.
The excerpt above tells you that the development of any nation depends on its human resource.
First world countries, like the USA and Canada, have long established free quality education and school feeding programmes, which has greatly impacted on their human resource.
In Sierra Leone, the Government of President Dr. Julius Maada Bio took education very seriously since it came to power in 2018.
Apart from the over 21% budgetary allocation to support the Free Quality Secondary Education (FQSE) in the education ministry, the Government also introduced the School Feeding Programme (SFP) in 2018.
The SFP, which started in Falaba District in the northern part of the country, and other remote areas in the provinces, is now being expanded to include schools in rural Freetown.
On Monday, January 30, 2023, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), in partnership with Plan International- Sierra Leone, launched the School Feeding Programme in the Western Rural District targeting 57,530 additional pupils from 197 pre-primary and primary schools in the district totalling 735,000 pupils benefiting nationwide.
Since the school feeding programme was launched in 2018, it has benefited 90 chiefdoms in all the 14 districts of the country. In 2018, for instance, it benefited 50,000 school pupils in Koinadugu, and in 2019 it was increased to 320,000 and 430,000 pupils in 2020.
In 2021, the school feeding benefited 441,000 in all the 14 districts of Sierra Leone.
Through the support of Plan International and the World Food Programme, the Government has been able to implement the Radical Inclusion Policy just to provide a viable learning environment for school children irrespective of ethnicity or region in a bid to enable them to attend and stay in school.
The Bio administration, from 2018, decided to go down the path of providing free quality education because it is no secret that education is not only a catalyst for growth and development but also a foundation that supports every fabric of society.
President Bio believes that education is a fundamental right of every Sierra Leonean and it can bring about the desired change and development in both the citizens and the nation.
The continuation of the FQSE project depends on the life span of the Bio presidency. I believe that beneficiaries of this package (parents and school pupils) and those who believe in education as the foundation for a country’s development will help keep this great initiative beyond 2023 by solidly voting for President Dr. Julius Maada Bio on June 24, 2023.
Abubakarr Bah is the government information attaché stationed at Sierra Leone’s diplomatic mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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