By Politico staff writer
In an unprecedented move, the Government of Sierra Leone has supported 190 paramount chiefs with tablets in a bid to monitor the education system in their various localities across Sierra Leone.
According to the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), Dr. David Sengeh, part of the strategy is that the Council of Paramount Chiefs will develop a concept paper on their roles and responsibilities for transforming the education system.
Each of the chiefs will propagate the messages and policies taking action to address issues related to teachers, boards, school management committees, and many more, the minister said.
He added that the government will provide tablet computers to all chiefs to enhance data collection, reporting, and monitoring of anything related to education, noting that “this will make education service delivery better.”
The minister stated that when the MBSSE, Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development converged in Bo, 161 paramount chiefs, regent chiefs, and chiefdom speakers participated in a national dialogue on education development, transforming education, and education sector plan.
“Together, we spoke about the challenges, current policies of the ministry, our two major donor-supported programmes – the Global Partnership for Education Implementation Grant and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (World Bank, European Union, Irish Aid, FCDO, and GPE) – and the roles and responsibilities of Paramount Chiefs in effective education service delivery,” the minister said.
He added: “This particular activity is one that President Bio has closely followed because of his respect for chiefs and his passion for education. I remember that in my first discussions with him while I was solely Chief Innovation Officer, he challenged me to think about providing phones and a monitoring system for chiefs. Then when I became a Minister of Basic Education, he reminded me again.”
He said that the Chiefs have always expressed concerns and interest in the education system every time they have discussions with the President.
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