Public education on Public Education: Getting to Zero Out of School Children in Sierra Leone
On the side lines of the Doha Forum, Sierra Leone has taken huge steps to universal primary school education.
Today, I signed an MoU on behalf of the Government that will ensure the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) provides support for 45,000 learners in Sierra Leone. This project will be implemented by the NGO Street Child on behalf of the government. The signing was done with Mr. Khalifa Al-Kuwari, the Director General of QFFD, as the Qatar Minister of Education and the CEO of Education Above All Foundation (EAA), watched.
Immediately after, we had a strategic meeting with the Director of EAA’s Educate a Child program, Dr Mary Pigozzi. We officially agreed to make Sierra Leone a Zero Out of School country partner. This means we are committing to developing a program supported by EAA, which will lead to universal access to primary school in Sierra Leone. The leadership of EAA will visit us in May to move the program along.
On my delegation also is Mr Mohamed Shaw- the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Basic and Senior Secondary Education. I believe it is imperative to collaborate across the government if we are to achieve our national development goals.
At Doha, I have also also gotten to connect with my dear friends and colleagues, including H.E Paula Ingabire, the Minister of ICT and Innovation from Rwanda. Paula is opening a center for 4IR in Kigali next week. I am proud of her work.
Yesterday, as Co-Chair of the UN Secretary General’s Transforming Education Summit Advisory Committee, we facilitated a discussion with 7 ministers of Education to develop a framework for national consultations and education financing.
Sierra Leone is doing this while laying the foundation and digging the well for quality education to flow. This week, we endorsed the Implementation Plan for Radical Inclusion with our partners. And this follows our Out of School Children strategy validated last week and our ongoing dissemination of the SSS curriculum.
Change is possible. Change is hard, but by God’s power, change is coming.
Copyright Moinina David Sengeh
