Officials from the Government of Sierra Leone are currently in Bangladesh with a technical team to have a first hand experience in the implementation of successful early childhood and non-formal education programs at scale.

The team, from the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education includes the Deputy Minister Emily Gogra, Chief Education Officer Yatta Kanu, Assitant-Director, Melody Martin, Cordinator Emmanuel Allie, and Delivery Team Cordinator Jemba-Makii Aziz-Kamara.

In addition, the GoSL team includes Ms Dunstanette Davies from the Sierra Leone Library Board and Ms Theresa Saccoh from Sierra Leone Teachers Union and Nursery School Association.

Other local partners from Brac-Sierra Leone and Right To Play are also on this unique tour where we are engaging officials and technical staff from the field and the Ministry of Education.

Minister of Basic and Senior School Education, Dr. Moinina Sengeh said: “It is so important that we promote diversity and ensure participation from all sectors in the education service delivery ecosystem.”

He said these collaborations do not start out of thin air nor do they end with a study tour.

He said the team at MBSSE have been hard at work on the technical components of the Early Child Development program including the recently launched Education Sector Plan partnering with UNICEF, World Bank and others.

The minister went on that meetings with leadership of Brac in Freetown, Paris and New York have helped make this engagement, which is supported by Lego Foundation, happen.

Adding: “Even before all of this, Aissatou Mila-Bah, who works for Brac, was once in my inbox (as early as 2018) to speak about Brac’s Play Labs. I then poached her from Brac to join DSTI where we worked on Partnerships for 2 years. The minute she went back to Brac- she started working again on this vision and it’s incredible to see all this come together full circle.”

“I am eager to keep learning and engaging on this trip but if there’s any one thing I am sure about, it’s that education transformation in Sierra Leone is far into a cycle that might just be soon irreversible. And that future is exciting” he closed.