By Politico staff writer
“I taught for 8 years as a Volunteer Community Teacher without a salary or stipend; passion for the classroom was the beacon that kept me going,” Tucee Sarah Kollie the 2021 Presidential Best Teacher Awardee narrates her experience in the teaching field.
In an interview with Augustine Sankoh, the Strategic Communications Analyst at the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) Tucee said she started her career in 2011 as a volunteer until 2019 when she was among the more than 4,000 teachers approved by the Government of Sierra Leone.
After winning the 30 million Leones Prize money for the award last December, she joined the Minister to attend the Wise Summit in Qatar and the RewirED Summit in Dubai, both of which are among the biggest Education platforms in the world.
“I felt overwhelmingly happy when I was informed about traveling with the Minister at an international conference. That moment I realized that gone are those days when teachers are left out and when the teaching field was just seen as a waiting ground for better jobs. I realized that the government has overturned that. This is a turning point in my life and the turning point in the teaching profession,” she said.
The Minister of MBSSE, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh said the move to travel with the teachers to such a platform is borne out of the desire to involve teachers in the activities of the ministry.
"When the Ministry went to Harvard University and the World Bank for Strategic meeting in September we brought a teacher that was recommended to us by the National Council of Head Teachers. So when we have another opportunity to go to the Wise Summit in Qatar and the RewirED Summit in Dubai, we invited the Presidential Best Teacher 2021 to accompany us,” he said.
Dr. Sengeh commended the teacher for her hard work and dedication in ensuring a literate community. “Tucee is my hero, not just because she served her school every day for 8 years without being paid as a teacher and caring for thousands of pupils; she did it because she was committed to service and her community,” he said, adding that “She would visit the homes of pupils and ensure the less privileged were also included. After winning the award (which she proudly hangs in her living room), her school asked her to now teach Class 3 because it is a critical transition grade. Be like Sarah. Be a hero!”
Meanwhile, Tucee sees the decision of becoming a teacher as the best she has ever taken and remained grateful for the leadership of MBSSE.
“The children don’t believe in what you know until they believe that you care for them, especially beginners in primary schools. Dealing with beginners, they need to have confidence in you and truly believe that you care for them to foster easy and quick learning,” Tucee said.
According to her nurturing the dream of becoming a teacher started when she was in Secondary School as she found joy in dictating their lesson notes to colleague students. She highlighted an instance in which she admitted to one of her teachers that she would like to become a teacher in the future and her teacher was astonished and regarded Tucce's ambition as a novelty.
She sees herself not just a teacher but an educator and a role model to children, so she doesn’t limit herself to the classroom.
“There was a time when I became a nurse. Imagine teaching in a school without special facilities for children with special needs. I took up the challenge of engaging an organization called Vision Aid to screen the eyesight of pupils and provide those with severe sight problems with lenses,” she said.
For Tucee, her service as a teacher doesn’t stop at the school but at the community as well.
“I am even going into the homes because you cannot teach or educate the child and leave the parents/guardians behind. So I was involved in community sensitization on how parents should care for their children's education and health,” she said.
Teachers make up 40% of the entire government payroll and more than 4000 teachers have been placed on the correct salary grades. More than 300 school heads have been regularized. According to Sankoh, the government recruited 1,000 teachers in 2021, and that there are more than 36,000 Teachers on the government payroll, with plans to add this number to 37,500 in the next two years.
In the build-up to the end of April 2020, there were concerns that the government might not be able to fulfill its commitment due to the emergence of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that forced many nations to reduce budgetary support to education. However, the government was able to meet the 30% pay raise for 34,350 teachers across the country. The increment at the time meant that the payroll for teachers increased by Le 13, 45 billion, from Le 42.95 billion in March 2020 to Le 56.40 billion in April 2020.
“More than 500 Principals and Vice Principals have also been appointed between August 2020 and November 2021. All were previously either Acting positions or vacant. The government is investing in school management and leadership,” Sankoh said.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (12/01/22)
