Free Quality Education is one of the much-talked about pillars under the administration of President Bio as he promised to ensure that “every child should have access to quality education” in Sierra Leone.

Initially, the initiative was well appreciated by many Sierra Leoneans as they thought the nation would regained its lost glory as once a hub for West Africa in terms of education.

Few years down the line, things started falling apart as the Free Quality Education (FQE) package did not meet the expectations of the majority.

Most citizens say many of the goodies the government had promised to implement only turned to be ghosts show.

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In fact, many Sierra Leoneans have come to the conclusion that since the launching of the project, education has become very expensive to acquire as compared to the time it was paid for.

Now, parents say there is no breathing space for them the most poor as inflated school charges seem to double fees paid by government.

Exam malpractices have become the order of the day without any remedy to curtail the menace, a critic said. Many schools of thought are with the views that indeed the Free Quality Education is meant for the average and the poor but the system is rife with cheating in schools.

However, opposition Chief Whip, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara lamented on this unfortunate situation in the country as the Free Quality Education package is currently eating into the fabric of the country’s education with lots of complaints by parents on increasing school charges.

Making his analysis, he noted that although the government is saying that they are providing quality education, yet a good number of government and government-assisted schools lack basic amenities; safe drinking water, spacious class rooms, good toilet systems and worst of it all, poor welfare of teachers that would given way quality in the system but these are not seen in schools.

Opposition Chief Whip emphatically drew the attention of Sierra Leoneans to one of the foes of the Free Quality Education, the private school sector.

According to his views, he said, private schools are giving the leverage to impose exorbitant charges and as a matter of fact it would affect public schools in the country, he said.

Hon Kamara maintained that it’s very unfair from the government as they are paying lip service to those children who are attending public schools. For example, he said, those who are in secondary level in government schools are paying Nle 30.00 each whilst private schools are demanding thousands of dollars for their service and the public is expecting the same output.

“The radical inclusion is excluding the people that vote for us.”

He made this statement based on what is unfolding in the education sector as the electorates are not part of the parcels of those to enjoy quality education whilst those who are in the helm of affairs get their children to receive quality education in the reverse.

He further said “it is high time for the government to improve on the school subsidies as that will ensure school authorities to be able to provide some basic amenities for a smooth learning.”

In conclusion, he made a clarion call to the government to start regulating private schools on charges levied on guardians and parents.