Sierra Leone’s President, Dr Julius Maada Bio has on Thursday 8 September 2022 launched the National Education Sector Plan 2022-2026 under the theme, “Transforming Education for All”, noting that although transforming education is not cheap, his government is making gains.

Read below the full keynote statement by President Bio, at the launching ceremony that took place at Freetown International Conference Centre, Aberdeen.

“Ministers of Government,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Paramount Chiefs and Community Leaders,
Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps,
Education Sector Administrators and Teachers,
Our learners, pupils,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning:

1. I am truly elated that we are gathered here to formally present a full-bodied plan of our vision for education in Sierra Leone over the next five years.

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2. As previous speakers have indicated, this is the fourth education sector plan developed in Sierra Leone since 2007. But this one is firmly situated within the vision we established in the New Direction manifesto for transforming education in Sierra Leone and anchored in the work of the last four years. This one is developed by us, for us, and for our national development.

3. Let me, therefore, thank the leadership of the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education for their great work on this.

4. Let me also thank experts, consultants, and stakeholders who added their voices and expertise to developing this comprehensive document.

5. The process of developing this education sector plan has been highly consultative and it has been guided by several existing assessment reports and policy frameworks relevant to the sector. Details have been provided by previous speakers.

6. The Government of Sierra Leone provided substantial funding in order to meet our objectives. But also, our friends and partners, the Global Partnership for Education and other Development Partners including Leh Wi Lan, World Bank, and UNICEF have generously supported this initiative.

7. We already know the impact of education as a cross-cutting driver for inclusive and sustainable development. Nations that have achieved rapid and sustainable economic growth have done so by developing the most productive resource in any nation – human capital. That is why we have predicated our development agenda on delivering human capital development – free quality education, affordable and quality healthcare, and food security.

8. When I speak about intentional planning therefore for education in Sierra Leone, I mean that as a nation, we have leveraged what we know about the education sector; pondered with purpose over what we need to do; considered the experiences of others; and we have then deliberately thought-out and carefully scaffolded our implementation of interventions. I have always argued that we must get education right if we must get the sustainable development of this nation right.

9. As I have always said, the greatest blight in any nation is a lack of access to quality education. In fact, the lack of access to quality education is the root of all the evil that can befall a nation. A nation of uncritical thinkers; a nation that cannot participate in global technological and scientific advancements; a nation that cannot develop entrepreneurship and local manufacturing or attract global investors seeking unique skills; is indeed a nation that is assured cycles of poor living conditions and intergenerational poverty. Since 2018, we have demonstrated through our work that we must change the future of learning and with that the future of our nation forever.

10. The theme of the Education Sector Plan 2022-2026 pronounces a dedication to transforming learning for all. Our aspiration is that learners will have equal opportunities to access quality basic, secondary, technical, vocational and higher education right across this nation. We have laid out our priority objectives very clearly.

11. But as with all our initiatives as a Government, we start doing even before we talk. We have re-established and staffed a new curriculum and research department which has created a new Early Childhood Development curriculum, Basic and Senior Secondary Curriculum and developed learning materials between 2018 and 2022. Through our work with partners, we have also updated, procured, and distributed teaching and learning materials. Civic education is again part of the curriculum. We have established a learning assessment unit to conduct international assessments like EGRA/EGMA for Primary and Secondary Grade Learning Assessments. We have strengthened accountability and developed policies for education sector governance.

12. We have recruited, promoted, and replaced more teachers than ever before in the history of this country. There are now more female teachers and a higher proportion of female teachers than ever before. There are also more special education teachers. My Government has paid teachers more than any Government has in the history of this country. In spite of financial constraints, my Government was one of very few in the entire world to increase teacher salaries even in the middle of COVID-19. I also launched the Presidential Best Teacher Award in order to recognise the outstanding work of our teachers. Instead of witch-hunting, hounding down, and disparaging our teachers for 11 years, we have provided more professional assessment and development opportunities for our teachers.

13. And for our parents, we have not only paid tuition fees for every public education learner in this country, but we are also paying examination fees for over 400,000 learners every year. For all these payments made by Government, calculate how much we are putting money into the pockets of parents and families per child. We have also developed the SMS Result Checker that is also saving parents a lot of money. We have also included parents and communities in the governance and management of education.

14. Across tertiary, technical, and vocational education, we have registered unprecedented successes. The Minister of Technical and Higher Education has mentioned that we now have ten districts with Government Technical Institutions.

15. We have established a Skills Development fund for public and private TVET institutions and expanded skills development training at higher and tertiary institutions across the country. We have introduced a National Qualifications Framework to enhance the quality of standards and equivalencies in certificates. We have reviewed conditions of service for academic and administrative staff of higher and technical institutions. The new Students Loan Scheme will open up access to technical and higher education for more students.

16. Above all, in four short years, we have transformed the quality of technical and higher education in this country forever by reviewing the Universities Act and for the first time in this country, established three new Technical universities – the Kono University of Science and Technology (which was promised to the people of Kono of 11 years and never built); the Eastern Technical University; and the Milton Margai Technical University. For the first time also, we now have a post-Secondary Disability Policy for accessing learning.

17. And we are not done. In the near future, we will soon develop a new Basic Education Policy and Act and a new Technical and Higher Education Policy and Act. Other related education sector policies will support and expand this strategic vision we have set out.

18. As I indicated a few days ago at St Joseph’s Secondary School and again during my meeting with young learners yesterday, our work on education in this country has been highly praised by the international community. Our Freetown Manifesto on transforming education is now a global document. Among other international acknowledgments, I am a Co-Chair of the High-Level Steering Committee to UNESCO for SDG 4 and I am an Executive Committee Board Member of the Global Partnership for Education. At the United Nations General Assembly this year, I will be a Co-Chair of the Transforming Education Summit along with the United Nations Secretary-General and leaders from Japan, Qatar, and Argentina. I will also co-chair a special session with the World Bank President and the Head of UNICEF.

19. As I have argued, transforming education is not cheap. Providing accessible and equitable education with improved learning outcomes has not been cheap and will not get cheaper, given our aspirations. But we are confident that it is an investment worth making now in order to make the quality of education in Sierra Leone globally competitive. We have set a new high among peer countries for domestic education financing. With partners, including the European Union, British Government, the US Government through the USDA, Qatar, Japan, People’s Republic of China, Global Partnership in Education, the World Bank, contributors to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, we have raised substantial funds to support our work on transforming education in Sierra Leone. There is a significant funding gap and we are hopeful that our development partners can work with us to close that gap.

20. We have a lot to be proud of in the last four years. We have more girls in school and achieved gender parity across all levels of education. We are universally addressing menstrual poverty. As a result of the work of the First Lady, Madam Fatima Bio and the Government, there is greater protection of the girl child, especially from sexual and gender-based violence. In the last week, Sierra Leone has received global acclamation for a unanimous vote by the United Nations General Assembly for a Sierra Leone-sponsored resolution calling for justice for survivors of sexual violence. A bill for gender empowerment and equality is in Parliament. I urge citizens to advocate intensively with the members of Parliament to pass that bill. It will transform the future of women and it will transform the future of this nation.

21. More rural poor now have access to quality education. More children in poorer districts can now have a warm meal while they are in school. Hitherto excluded population groups can now access education. More schools and more classrooms have been built; more early childhood education facilities; new boarding facilities; more WASH facilities in schools; more parent learners, more out-of-school learners; more teachers, better-paid teachers, and a better student-to-teacher ratio.

22. There are now better learning outcomes and we can now monitor and measure those consistently. There are better completion rates, more passes in transition examinations across the board, and more students being placed in technical, vocational, and tertiary education institutions. We do not only now have comprehensive school data, we predicate our policies, planning, and interventions on relevant, current, and accurate data.

23. Are we satisfied with these achievements and more in the last four years? Our aspiration is to do more. I believe that in the coming years, we can do more to address learning poverty at the foundational levels right across Sierra Leone and improve our literacy and numeracy levels.

24. I believe that our learners can graduate at the BECE and WASSCE levels with skills they can use to develop business start-ups and create jobs and income streams for themselves and other Sierra Leoneans. They could also transition into technical and vocational education institutions at higher rates and improve their skill sets and make themselves more employable.

25. I believe that our curriculum can support more civic education so that our new generation of learners grows up with strong critical thinking skills; is able to communicate their feelings, needs, and desires in peaceful ways; and participates in and contributes to building a more cohesive, peaceful, and stable democracy.

26. Some opposition politicians seem to care less that their hateful and bigoted statements have led to deadly violence and the gruesome public killings of Police officers. But I believe that through the power of education, we can have a new generation of citizens who respect all ethnic groups equally and who prefer dialogue and peace over hate. We can use education to build a more peaceful, more stable, more resilient, and more sustainable future for our country.

27. I believe in the power of transformative education to make our learners more productive citizens who can craft a new perspective on and take action to tackle the urgent challenges of our country and of the globe. Climate change education, for instance, can empower learners to develop attitudes and take action to mitigate the effects of climate change in their communities and hence avert avoidable disasters.

28. I believe in that we can innovate teaching and learning and we can go beyond the Education Innovation Challenges we have started in order to improve our learning outcomes.

29. Everything is possible. We have been bold and audacious and we have made the seemingly impossible happen in just four years. We may be a small country, but our achievements and our ambitions are unlimited. We believe that fit-for-purpose education can transform the future of our beloved nation. With this shared aspiration and uncommon commitment to getting even better, I proudly launch the Education Sector Plan 2022-2026.

I thank you for your kind attention.”