In a significant stride to curtail the abysmal performance of students in English language on public examinations, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Conrad Sackey, took time off to engage authorities of schools in the country.

The meeting brought together the Minister and school administrators and educators to speak on the poor performance issue and share ideas on ways to tackle the problem.

Analyzing the probable reasons responsible for the situation, Minister Sackey said the situation could be traced back to the document of the result of egma-egra base line assessment in 2021, which stated that our kids were suffering from learning poverty. That is at age 10 they could not read and comprehend.

He said a significant amount of the pupils are in that position, making it hard for them to not only comprehend but to apply critical thinking.

He however assured that all is not lost, stating that the government has taken that result head-on and as a resolve have made the foundation of learning the center point of their strategy to transform the educational system.

On the part of the Educators, Board Chairman of 3 Technical Secondary School, Philip John Kanu, said though the performance on English language is appalling, they as educators would find a way to salvage the situation, adding that the good news is the fact that the Minister is keenly interested.

Abdul Salam Conteh, principal of Benevolent Islamic Secondary School in Makeni, acknowledged the Minister’s inputs and commended the government’s efforts in investing in the country’s educational system. He furthered that though a research team has been set up to look at all these possibilities contributing to the problem, they too as teachers and examiners also need to improve.