By Prince J Musa in Kenema
Past Pupils of Government Secondary School in Kenema under the fraternity Kenema Old Students Association (KOSA) have celebrated 71 years of the school’s existence and the 48th year since the association was formed.
The celebrations held simultaneously at the school’s compound at Combema Road in Kenema were graced by eminent individuals including the President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio who was inducted as Associate Member of KOSA.
Addressing the gathering, President Bio said his Government did no mistake to invest in quality education which he promised they will continue to offer to help produce strong and reliable leaders that will attain leadership of the country. He said people with great potential dropped out of school in the past because they could not access free quality education.
He referred to his membership in KOSA as a great privilege considering that the school has over the decades produced a lot of good citizens who are serving at national and global levels.
He maintained that the theme for this year’s celebration – ‘free quality education, joining the best, taking responsibility for the future of Sierra Leone’ strongly aligned with his vision for a revolution in the education sector in this country.
President Bio encouraged the young beneficiaries of free education to embrace it, saying it can help eradicate poverty, ensure good health facilities and enhance other developments. He commended the teachers for maintaining good work, describing them as the bedrock of achieving quality education.
The president then made a personal cash contribution to KOSA of 50 Million New Leones and also presented 30 desktop computers and accessories to the school.
The Chairman of the ceremony Ambassador Sullay Daramy who is a product of the school described this year’s KOSA celebration as another milestone that coincided with the birthday of President Bio.
He said despite schools are not political entities, they are beneficiaries of good political decisions as demonstrated in this government’s initiation of free quality education.
He said for the President to celebrate his birthday with pupils of the government secondary school demonstrates that he has a great passion for education and human capital development.
The President of KOSA Mohamed Kallon said KOSA as an association is proud to celebrate 48 years in the face of a mixed bag of challenges and successes.
He recalled the first year of his presidency in which he ensured the protection of the school by building a perimeter fence to protect the school land from encroachers and intruders, as well as pupils bent on truancy.
He promised that his second year will focus on academic excellence in public examinations by looking out for credible teachers in certain subjects, especially the sciences and Language. He said rehabilitation of the staff quarters will also be done.
The Principal of the Senior Secondary School Alhaji Mustapha J Mansaray said the free quality education has led to an increase in enrollment of pupils noting that for Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1,450 (one thousand four hundred and fifty) pupils were enrolled this year whilst for Senior Secondary School(SSS) 1433 (one thousand four hundred and thirty-three) were enrolled. He said academic performance for JSS in Basic Education and Certificate Examination (BECE) was 95.5% while for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) the performance was 85.5% out of 310 candidates.
Prizes were later given to present pupils who performed well in public exams.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (15/05/23)
