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The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Conrad Sackey held a productive meeting with UNICEF Sierra Leone Country Representative Rudolf Schwenk on their shared commitment to improving education outcomes for children in the country.
“Our priority is to ensure that every child in Sierra Leone can read, write, and learn in a safe environment.’’ Minister Sackey said.
The discussion also focused on acceleration efforts to strengthen foundational learning, promote safe and inclusive schools, and improve data-driven education systems that will help deliver measurable results in classrooms across the country.
The Minister said that his Ministry is focused on Strengthening teacher training, expand access to quality learning materials while ensuring that schools provide supportive environments fr young children to thrive. However, he emphasised funding constraints facing the education sector in the past few years. “Effective and efficient financing remains critical to closing gaps in literacy and numeracy, especially at the foundational level,’’ he said.
Adding that without strong foundations in the early years, Sierra Leone cannot expect strong outcomes later. The partnership with UNICEF continues to help the ministry track progress and direct resources where they are needed most.
“I appreciate UNICEF’s continued support to Sierra Leone’s education transformation agenda, particularly in curriculum reform, teacher development, emergency education response, and expanding equitable access to learning opportunities for girls and children in hard-to-reach communities.’’ He said
Minister Sackey reaffirmed his ministry’s commitment to scaling up programmes that improve foundational learning, strengthen school environments, and promote accountability in education spending for the benefit of every learner in the country.
Recently, the partnership between UNICEF and the MBSSE and other development partners like ChildFund launch an audacious outcomes fund programme to improve learning for children under 5 years in some districts across the country.
The USD 15.3 million is expected to improve foundational learning through Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in Sierra Leone for at least three years.
