We share the view that education is the master key to development. That is why we have placed it in the topmost column of our development agenda.
Still staggering to maintain its grip on self-governance since political independence, as it emerges from one calamity to another, ranging from a bloody civil war, military punches, electoral violence to the recent dreadful Ebola outbreak which claimed thousands of innocent lives including youth, women and children, Sierra Leone is currently ranked 181 among 188 countries and more than 70% of its youth are jobless due to lack of proper education, skill knowhow and job opportunities, according to UNDPs 2014/2015 global Human Development Index.
Constant deprivation from basic human needs caused by chronic poverty is rendering every Sierra Leonean youth in the rural slums powerless to acquire a better education and plan for a brighter future. The high cost of teaching and learning materials, computers, Internet connectivity, electricity, lack of science and computer laboratories in more than 95% of the primary and secondary schools across the country has made education an opportunity only reachable by rich families.
The above has made improving education for the underprivileged citizens in our operational areas our insatiable dream. We want to make education reachable and affordable for all citizens between 05 and 35 years of age in the eastern region and beyond. We therefore intend to construct 4 secondary schools and 10 primary schools in strategic villages and towns across the region before the year 2020 to enable the youth and children to acquire free education.
We have already constructed few schools in the region and are providing teaching and learning materials including teachers’ stipends, and are putting proposals together to enable us construct more in years to come.
In addition to the above, we hope to revolutionize secondary and tertiary education in the entire region by introducing students and pupils to our digital library program which will enable them read expensive learning materials free of cost.