By politico staff writer
A Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) from the Sierra Leone Parliamentary Delegation to the African, Caribbean, Pacific, and European Union (ACP-EU) headed by Mathew Sahr Nyuma, Leader of Government Business has urged stakeholders to keep the school environments clean and safe.
The joint oversight was meant to assess EU-completed projects in the regions where construction of major bridges and rehabilitation of old classrooms and construction of new classroom blocks have taken place.
Speaking to beneficiaries of the projects, MP Nyuma of constituency 019 in Kenema district, Sierra Leone called on stakeholders in the education sector to keep the schools clean and safe in order to attract more pupils for enrollment in their institutions of learning. He also implored parents of the communities to send their children to school as he said the benefits of education are enormous and numerous in every sphere of life.
He encouraged the teachers to continue playing a leading role in the development of the pupils as he said, their job is selfless and involves a huge sacrifice for the development of the country.
The Leader of Government Business called on principals to foster a good relationship with Councils for the management and maintenance of the facilities that have been provided by the EU and the Government of Sierra Leone. He said the projects were due to the Cotonou Agreement in light of democracy, good governance, and peace and stability in the country.
He emphasized the need for getting first-hand information on the project's retention period, successes, challenges, and recommendations from the beneficiaries for onward transmission and consideration for necessary action, given the project components to be delivered by the contracting agencies.
Education stakeholders and the community people were pleased with the EU projects in light of gender, disability, and access to schools in the regions. They appealed to the delegation for fencing of their schools and construction of school quarters for teachers to enhance security, provision of additional furniture, furnishing of their computer and science laboratories, libraries, and a sickbay for pupils before referrals to hospitals for further treatments.
The communities’ stakeholders noted that the EU projects had increased enrollment in schools and had greatly reduced accidents by replacing one-way old bridges with two-way new bridges in the country with pathways for pedestrians. They also appealed for the faulty locks; handles of hand-dug wells and damaged solar systems by thunderstorms to be fixed.
The ACP-EU Delegation visited Schlenker Secondary School, Ernest Bai Koroma Junior Secondary School, Mission of Faith Secondary School, and the Adikalie Modu III Bridge, formerly Magbele Bridge in Port Loko District.
In Bo District, they also visited the National Islamic Secondary School, Islamic Kenday-Ella Secondary School in Tikonko Chiefdom, and the Gondama Bridge.
The said projects were implemented through the National Authorizing Office (NAO) to construct new bridges, classrooms, and rehabilitation of old buildings.
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