On 1st November 2019, SiERRAEYE organized its monthly debate on the motion: “Teachers are not responsible for the educational crisis in Sierra Leone.” The purpose of the debate was to provide an open platform for public discourse in favour and against the motion. In addition to the debate, SiERRAEYE also conducted a street survey in Freetown and interviewed 562 respondents to sound public opinion by asking various questions related to the general theme of education crisis in Sierra Leone.
Based on the arguments advanced at the debate, feedback from the survey and numerous consultations, SiERRAEYE proposes the following position to Government and all other actors involved in the education sector:
- Take urgent and immediate action to properly diagnose and find out the underlying causes of the poor showing of students in national exams especially the recently concluded WASSCE Exams;
- Comprehensively review the current education structure;
- Continue to take appropriate measures to ensure that the integrity of exams are not called into question and ensure that examination malpractices and unethical and corrupt practices in the education sector are eliminated;
- Greatly improve the conditions of service and training for teachers by developing and implementing standards and competencies for teachers and providing opportunities for continuous professional development;
- Ensure that all teachers are professionally qualified and trained, motivated, disciplined and equipped with the requisite resources to teach;
- Maintain clean and updated payroll records of teachers;
- Ensure that class sizes are reduced to help enhance and facilitate student achievement;
- Review the current curriculum and teaching methods to ensure the establishment of system that cultivates analytical skills and develops critical thinking;
- Set up or resuscitate Parent, Teacher and Student Associations and support them to play a greater role in the management of Schools;
- As part of Government’s decentralization efforts, delegate and support local governments to play a greater role in education in their area of operation;
- Institute an effective evaluation system including mechanisms to monitor teaching hours and proper school inspection system to help ensure that teachers follow lesson notes and complete the syllabus;
- Set up and/or restock libraries and internet cafes and develop information, communication technology capacities;
- Learn lessons from the Grammar School experience and why the school continues to excel amidst the declining standards in the country;
- Continue to provide adequate and timely funding for education;
- Refrain from politicizing the issue of education;
- Put particular emphasis on early childhood education including pre-schooling;
- Revise and or ensure full implementation of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policy;
- Provide water and basic sanitation facilities in all schools;
- Provide balanced and regular meals for children attending Government schools;
- Inculcate the value of education in children and parents;
- Stress the importance of and encourage a culture of reading to foster the growth and development of knowledge;
- The Teaching Service Commission be made fully functional to perform its role to manage the affairs of teachers in order to improve their professional status and economic wellbeing and to effectively address issues of teacher recruitment and placement, harmonization of teaching standards and delivery, design programmes for in-service training for teachers and
- Treat the current education crisis in the country as a national security issue.
Adopted: By the Board of Directors of SiERRAEYE
Dated:
END