By Kemo Cham
Last November, the Government of Sierra Leone hosted a ground-breaking forum on science and innovation. The conference on identifying Sierra Leone's vision for the promotion of agriculture, fisheries and industrial development through environmental science, technology and innovation, was hailed as a landmark move.
It follows, however, that so many a conferences, albeit conceived on genuine intentions, fail to achieve their objectives partly because after the chitchat hardly does anything happen.
Nonetheless, the significance of science and technology (SciTech), hence the November conference, cannot be overemphasised. To borrow from President Ernest Bai Koroma's speech at the conference: "...no country can prosper without innovative citizens, and no sector, from agriculture to fisheries and industry, can be competitive in our global society without taking advantage of the best in science and technology."
But besides such public pronouncements, how much has his government done to promote SciTech.
Paltry subvention
There is already a passionate global discourse around this subject, and Africa is at the centre, even if policy makers in Freetown don't seem to be conscious about it.
In 1980, the then OAU - now African Union (AU) - commissioned the "Lagos Plan of Action" in which African governments, including Sierra Leone, committed to increase spending on S&T to at least one percent of GDP. Even though government has done its best, it's hardly enough to say much premium is placed on science, says Ibrahim Sesay, Executive Secretary of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).
His office coordinates all government activities concerning the promotion of S&T, and it has only been in existence since 2001; an apparent indication of how late Sierra Leone was to recognise science as a tool for development.
Sesay says the national S&T policy remains redundant largely because of failure by successive governments to enact the relevant legislation drafted since 2004.
"[Therefore], with the paltry subvention we receive, there's hardly anything the Council can achieve."
In 2006, the AU renewed the one percent GDP commitment and governments promised to achieve it by 2010.
It is 2014, and the continental average spending, according to figures from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, is 0.41%.
Between 2007 and 2009, South Africa was highly expected to meet the target ahead of the rest of the region. Latest reports, however, indicate Africa's top economy is struggling at 0.76%.
That leaves us with the unlikely candidate, Rwanda, which according to the World Academy of Sciences, was spending 1.6% of GDP on S&T by 2011, with an expected rise to 3% over the next five years.
This is a remarkable demonstration by Rwanda of its ability to overcome its war past and portray a role model status for science-based development.
In Sierra Leone, the budgetary allocation to S&T "is so small that you don't even know how to define it," laments Sesay.
Development needs
Research is the nucleus of S&T, which is crucial for development. And research demands huge investment. Until 2012, no African country had allotted more than 5% of its national budget to science and research, according to expert reports.
Consequently, over 90% of research conducted in Africa is foreign funded, which partly explains why many research outcomes reveal totally unrelated development needs of the continent.
"That's why we are poor...This is why most African countries are consumer nations. Asian countries have got high life expectancy rates because of the premium they put on science and technology," adds Sesay.
Some experts have said the need for S&T education has never been more urgent for Sierra Leone, in light of the supposed numerous opportunities offered by the dominant extractive sector.
Also, as an agrarian nation, value addition is seen as critical to ensure the country fully gains from its vast potentials.
Why, then, is it that there doesn't seem to be anything much to attract young Sierra Leoneans to the sciences?
Artificial fear
At the Model Secondary School, Acting Principal Sahr Dawda attributes it to negative perceptions, as well as limited resources to give impetus to science teaching. His school, he says, has very little resources to spare for the maintenance of their laboratory or to hire science teachers, who are hard to come across. And students are readily snobby of anything that has to do with mathematics or science.
From university to secondary school, there is nothing to attract students to the sciences, says John Gbla, head of the science department at the nearby Rokel Government Secondary School.
"The last time this school had a supply of science materials was over six years ago, recalls Mr Gbla who teaches biology. He also blames "artificial fear" around the supposed difficulty of the sciences, which he says has caused everyone to run away.
But government's policy is also much to blame, Gbla adds. The emptiness in the classroom where the interview was conducted with him represents a bitter testament to the sad reality surrounding the state of science education in the country, he pointed out.
One burette (a common lab instrument used to measure and separate solutions) for instance, costs about Le 80, 000. Imagine a class of 10 pupils doing science (and the number is often far more). It means the school needs Le 800, 000 for 10 burettes. Forget about the likely chance of breakage. Because of the huge costs of lab apparatus, Mr Gbla says, he stopped sending requisition to administration as they are frowned at with the excuse of budgetary constraints.
For Rokel and many other schools which offer experimental science subjects, pupils get to see these instruments for the first time only weeks, if not days, to their external exams.
Consequently, class time tables no longer feature practical lab sessions in most secondary schools across Sierra Leone.
During admission period, science streams get allocated with pupils only after there are no places left in the usually overcrowded commercial and arts streams, so that science classes are filled with pupils who are hardly there by choice or on merit - willy-nilly.
Although NSTC Executive Secretary Sesay says his office has over the years endeavoured to provide basic materials to help boost science education at primary and high school levels, even he couldn't hide his pessimism given the prevailing circumstances. Sierra Leone, he says, is not even at the "takeoff" point yet.
"It all has to do with political will. The government should now focus on demystifying science."
But already, there is so much to suggest there is interest and talent in this country. Kelvin Doe immediately comes to mind. There is also David Sengeh, the brain behind "Innovate Salone", through which programme the genius was found in young Kelvin who set up a radio transmitter using scrap metals.
With an education system widely criticized as dysfunctional, in spite of the modest budgetary allocation, it will be hard to address the obvious anomaly that besets this situation without a drastic overhaul in policy and management, say experts.
The government can't afford to fail to realise that with the current attitude, it's losing out a lot in its desire to address pressing issues, like youth unemployment.
Dr. Thomas Yormah, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, in a May 2013 paper, summed it all up. Essentially, his views remind of the crucial interface between science and business.
He observed that almost all the cottage industries in the country are owned by Indians, Lebanese, Chinese, Nigerians and other foreigners.
"Our policy-makers (politicians, civil servants, parliamentarians, etc.) who are daily immersed in science, [yet] consciously or unconsciously budget pittance in terms of resources for the management of science, technology and innovation!" he writes.
According to observers, very few science graduates are coming out of colleges and universities. And those who do, dread the thought of the only job opportunity available - teaching.
Yet classrooms in secondary schools are starving of science teachers.
It's like a vicious cycle. Gbla of Rokel Secondary School has severally applied for jobs outside the classroom. He could have been long gone if he was lucky. Not that he has given up yet.
(C) Politico 13/02/14
