By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Last year I tried to see the government’s flagship Free Quality Education (FQE) project on the ground in our schools after hearing and reading so much about it. I visited the Juba Army Municipal primary school in my neighborhood and it was clear to see that the immediate impact was a significant increase in pupil enrolment. The other leg of my visit took me to the fishing village of Tombo along the Peninsula where there are several government and government-assisted schools.
It is my understanding that President Julius Maada Bio’s Free Quality Education initiative has, as its cornerstone, the ambitious aim of giving children access to education as a first step towards restoring the lost glory of Sierra Leone’s educational standard. The New Direction manifesto of 2017, on which the president was elected, talks about accessibility, equity, relevance, integrity and system-strengthening. This year, 2020, government allocated Le 1.4 trillion to the education sector representing 22% of the country’s annual budget – a slight increase on last year.
The FQE package consists of the payment of tuition fees from primary to senior secondary school, provision of core textbooks, furniture and other learning material including the payment of fees for all public examinations. However there appears to have been a shift in policy with the government recently saying it will not be paying examination fees for pupils in private schools. Inevitably, parents whose children are affected are dissatisfied and that also includes owners of those private schools.
Additionally the government promised to train and recruit about 500 teachers and increase the salary of teachers. I know that teachers’ salary went up recently but the jury is still out on a number of other issues.
How do we measure quality in the context of FQE?
At present the number of pupils attending school has increased but the question is: are the pupils actually accessing quality education – I mean something better than what had obtained before the FQE project came into force? I am thinking about all the things required to effectively achieve the quality aspect of the whole process such as sufficient supply of learning and teaching materials, a conducive environment for learning by providing spacious classrooms, providing adequate text books, furniture, WASH facilities, trained and qualified teachers and a handsome remuneration package for them.
Pupils of the Rural Education Committee Primary School in Tombo Village were seen playing outdoor games in an unpaved school compound, while others were in poorly ventilated classrooms with broken chairs and tables waiting for afternoon session to begin when I arrived. Despite the very challenging environment in which they get their tuition they still looked happy as their smiles beamed as sign of the brighter future their parents look forward to.
The school is the oldest primary school in the area, founded in 1971, and, according to head teacher PM Quintin Smith, “the Free Quality Education is in progress because we are getting supplies of learning and teaching materials but our main concern here is accommodation. We don’t have enough buildings.” According to Smith the school is also faced with the challenge of inadequate furniture and the fact that experienced teachers are in short supply. The school has 18 teachers including five community ones to serve 850 children in just eight classrooms.
Last year an official of the Ministry of Basic Education told Politico that they had conducted the school census to identify schools that are in deplorable conditions. Headmaster Quintin Smith confirmed the survey saying: “they did a school census in 2018/2019 academic year. The census was about counting teachers as well as children. Look at the building, toilet, etc. Since then we have not received any information from them (the Ministry).” He added: “the free is correct but the quality has a question. The quality has a question because teachers cannot come to school and stand on empty stomach. The payment [of teachers] is not encouraging. The money is very small to maintain ourselves but we just have to be content with what we have and do your work properly.” Perhaps the recent 30% increase in teachers’ salary has brought some smile to Smith’s face.
The challenges with poor infrastructure and teachers’ welfare aside, according to the headmaster parenting is also another major challenge to the FQE because many children are withdrawn from school and put into petty trading and are sometimes taken to the Wharf for fishing purposes. Therefore school attendance especially on Fridays is bad. But John Sorie Conteh, a community teacher, told me that the problem of poor attendance can be addressed by the school-feeding program which they are still looking forward to.
Hassan Kamara, a Senior Teacher at St Raphael’s Primary School (a government-assisted school in Waterloo Western Rural), said the FQE is highly appreciated and if sustained the country will regain its quality in education.
Challenges similar to those at the school in Tombo are faced by St. Raphael: poor infrastructure, limited staff and teachers’ welfare. However the condition of the classrooms is much better and the environment is tidier with pupils orderly seated even if in a congested classroom for English Language on that day.
“My own challenge is under-payment. Government has not increased my salary up till this time. I am receiving around le 818, 000, 00 on a monthly basis. Looking at the cost of living now my salary cannot even upkeep my daily standard but we have no alternative because half a loaf is better than none,” Kamara said. It has to be underscored here also that this was before the recent 30% salary increase announced for teachers.
The school has 13 classrooms for 684 pupils, and, according to Kamara despite the challenges there are a few success stories of the FQE initiative. “Either directly or indirectly whatever the case may be we are benefiting from the FQE because children have been supplied books although they are not sufficient, no payment of school fees, no cash from the parent to teachers. So these are benefits because with that parents can now reserve their money for other things.”
Alphonso Manley, National Coordinator of Civil Rights Coalition, explained to Politico that the initiative could be assessed based on the four elements of access, equity, integrity and retention.
“In terms of access the school census can actually speak for itself. We have had over 700,000 pupils coming in to the school system because of the FQE. In terms of equity government has really made some inroads but there are a lot more to be done for example there are limited mathematics and English Language teachers in the remote areas based on our monitoring (activities)”.
Manley went on to say: “In terms of equity the disabled, we need to do more with the visually impaired. Equity in terms of WASH facilities some schools have WASH facility some do not. Some schools have enough spacious classrooms. St Joseph’s Secondary School is not overcrowded but schools in rural areas are overcrowded.”
According to Manley, the quality aspect of the initiative is challenged because of several factors such as poor monitoring mechanism within the internal school management, untrained teachers, teachers’ welfare and poor parenting.
He went on: “For instance there are some teachers with HTC from 1982, they still hold on to that HTC with archaic method of teaching in the classroom. They do not have some kind of innovative ideas to teach (pupils). Students memorize – what you give them is what they give you back in exams. Some of the schools in the interior, when government supplies learning and teaching materials schools in the bigger towns will first receive their supplies and those schools where you have to cross river do not receive theirs on time”.
Janare Sesay a father of two who benefits from the FQE initiative said: “I have two children who are enrolled in both St Anthony’s Primary school and Fattah Rahman Secondary School. The Free Quality Education is not actualized as expected but it is making gains because it has lessened the burden on parents in term of fees. The negligence of the other side of the FQE is that teachers who are passing the knowledge are not motivated. And again the books supplied do not correlate with the existing syllabus,” Sesay said.
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