By Alpha Abu
Report of a study by a local research group, Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) and the British NGO, Oxfam says significant progress has been made in education than health in Sierra Leone. The assessment was contained in a report highlighting “citizens’ feedback on the state of health and education services” that IGR’s partners the World Bank officially launched in a committee room of the Sierra Leone Parliament on Wednesday 24 March 2021.
The report, based on a Service Delivery Index (SDI) that IGR and Oxfam jointly coordinated, says 67.4% Sierra Leoneans gave greater credit to education than health’s 51%. Resources the government allocated for the Free Quality Education FQE could have played a part in improving standards in the sector. It was revealed that 3,960 parents and guardians had their experiences and perceptions on the various school services recorded that indicated favourable responses. 70% of respondents were encouraged by the services the school authorities provided. The study acknowledges a drop in bribery in education and citizens’ satisfaction that schools open on time and that there is a positive note on the presence or availability of teachers in the classroom.
However the report indicates that The Western Rural, Tonkolili and Bombali districts ranked the lowest in overall “user satisfaction”.
66% of government assisted schools have access to better learning facilities, with 5,000 teachers recruited in 2019. Western Urban and Bonthe district did well in access to education. But the study shows most districts still struggle to access qualified teachers with the exception of Western Urban Freetown. The city remains the only locality where 65% of teachers in government schools are with pin –codes that ensure they get paid salaries.
The health sector is still saddled with challenges with the IGR study indicating that drug availability in the Free Healthcare programme initiated by the previous government, is more of a problem than payment. Also malaria and water- borne diseases remain the two main health challenges people face in their communities. The health sector is also being plagued by lack of staff and poor distribution of health workers who the report say are in short supply. The health workers are heavily concentrated in urban areas, with poor incentives to both attract and encourage retention of staff in rural areas”, the report notes. Also in reference to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation 2016 annual report, that indicated only1.4 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 of the population of Sierra Leone, IGR and partners believe this to be “considerably lower than the SDG goal of 44.5 and illustrates a workforce shortage of around 32,000”.
World Bank representative in Sierra Leone Gayle Martin commended IGR and Oxfam for the report and expressed her delight at the participatory approach demonstrated in its implementation and the spirit with which it has been received. She said the World Bank and Global Partnership for Social Accountability. She pointed out the essence in improving service delivery, and spoke about covid -19 had negatively impacted both the health and education sectors covered by the index. She hoped the challenges highlighted in the SDI will help “the covid recovery and will mitigate its impact on the poorest households”. Martin also continued to say: “And in doing so, the SDI will help reverse the human capital losses imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The Clerk of Parliament said the report deserves the attention of the House and the country and advised the two organisations to work with the Parliamentary Committees on health and education so a report of that nature can be tabled before the house and debated and from which recommendations would be made by parliament that would in turn present it to the Executive arm of government for action.
He spoke of the sometimes unhealthy relationship between Civil Society organisations and parliament and called for greater interface involving both parties. He spoke about the idea of establishing a Civil Society desk at parliament.
Both IGR and Oxfam worked on the study that was funded by the World Bank through its subsidiary Global Partnership for Social Accountability which was established by the bank’s Board in 2012.
To get the report the sixteen districts and all the parliamentary constituencies had data collected from them randomly. According to IGR and Oxfam the “2020 Service Delivery Index (SDI) is a baseline for citizens’ monitoring of the allocation, delivery and improvement in the quality of Sierra Leone’s health and education services”.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (26/03/21)
