|
Sierra Leone is emerging from an eleven-year war which was officially declared over in 2002. The war which was considered as one of the bloodiest civil wars in modern history did not only cripple the economy but also undermined the educational infrastructure in the country.
Since the war ended, Sierra Leone has been struggling to rise among the debris. The educational platform is still yet to be set properly due to some factors which this article will explore below. This article focuses on the formal educational system and it present status in the country, but one would first of all wish to explain the concept of formal education for the good of all and sundry. Formal education: this refers to the education or training received in schools, colleges or universities, with lessons, exams, etc, in order to improve knowledge and develop skills, rather than gained just through practical experience.
In Sierra Leone today, the school has become the principal means of preparing young people for the future. But in its present form, the school is another institution that is going through a crisis in this country. Here I am using the term 'school' to refer to the educational system in all its forms and levels, especially from primary up to senior secondary school level. A review of the education literature indicates that the last decade has witnessed disintegration in public schools in terms of quality, infrastructure and teacher and student morale in most part of Sierra Leone. A report from various part of the country suggests that school children are attending schools in conditions that seem to brutalise them physically and psychologically. For instance, many boarding schools are said to lack the capacity to feed students, thus forcing them to look for alternative ways of surviving. In other cases, some primary schools lack even basic necessities such as chalk or desks. In response to their situation, poorly remunerated teachers through out the country are turning to the commercialization of teaching by introducing 'tuition' classes at additional cost to pupils. Available evidence suggests that some lecturers in some universities engage in selling pamphlets to students, and passing examinations is linked to attendance at these extra-tuition classes or buying of those pamphlets, and in some instances, 'leakages' which involve teachers, and in some cases education officials, selling examination papers to pupils. This put pupils, especially girls from poor families, at a disadvantage. Girls are generally expected to give sexual favours to teachers in exchange for extra tutorials, leakage and other curricular activities. In most cases, these abusive relationships lead to the impregnation of school pupils, thus, shattering their educational dreams. It is also important to raise the issue that the relevance of schooling itself is increasingly questioned. As noted above, until recently, the 'school' in Sierra Leone has been widely seen as an important means for social mobility in modern society. Anticipating that education might help their children progress, many parents including single mothers, have gone to great lengths to send their children to school. To many of these parents, education meant a well paying job, a big house, a car and other fringe benefits. But nowadays attending school no longer holds the hope for employment or a better future. Not surprisingly, many young people perceived formal education as 'useless' to their livelihoods.The perceived 'uselessness of education among youth appears to arise from two main factors. First, is the high and growing problem of youth unemployment. More and more young people in Sierra Leone are failing to find jobs in a largely stagnant formal sector. Indeed, the youth, especially the school-going ones, see their friends, brothers, sisters and cousins who complete school before them staying for long periods at home without gainful or productive employment. Second is the type of education that the students receive. A recent survey in the country shows that there is general dissatisfaction with the school. Many parents and guardians complain that the educational system in Sierra Leone does not equip young people with skills to compete in the labour market. Neither does it prepare them to go into self-employment enterprise activities. Unsurprisingly, many young people in Sierra Leone, who are already affected by poverty and unemployment, claim that education has no relevance to their livelihoods. This situation offers little incentive for young people to study, as evident in the considerable proportion of young people who drop out of school due to lack of interest or to engage in income generating activities in many parts of the country.Another contributing factor is the environment in which young people grow up, especially informal urban settlements. In most part of Sierra Leone, the home environment tends to be crowded, with little or no room for studying. Many houses have no electricity and other amenities. There is also a problem of hunger (food insecurity in general) in many homes. In the absence of school feeding programmes, as is the case in many schools in this country, this has made it difficult for children to concentrate on their work at school; Studies indicate that even when the children return from school, there is no guarantee that they would find food at home. Where they do find it, the food is either inadequate or largely starchy, poorly cooked and quite unhygienic.These factors suggest that the 'school' in itself is not necessary a place adequately equipped to handle contemporary youth in Sierra Leone. In recent years, the capacity of the school to handle youth seems to have been unawares in dealing with drug and substance abuse among pupils, leading to increased incidences of violence, including riotous behaviour, vandalism, and destruction of property. Available evidence suggests that both teachers and students are no longer safe from drug and alcohol related violence in schools.However, to improve the educational system in the country, it is clear that the government must be in the driver's seat to increase the employability of young school-leavers entering the job market; as a result, young people especially the school going ones will be motivated to pursue a formal education. It is also clear that to standardize the educational system in Sierra Leone; teachers should be encouraged and must be given a decent wage and employment conditions.Also, to improve the academic standard in the country, the government must expand academic training exercise, lifelong learning, and other means of improving skills. For instance, there should be technical and vocational training for secondary school students, in which students should spend four days a week at school and two days a week in the practical training in their field of study. By this, graduates will find easier employment or set up their own small enterprises that will help oil the wheel of development in this nation. It's obvious that to rise out of poverty, the youths of Sierra Leone need decent jobs and quality education. |
