By Ibraheem Daramy
FERENSOLA
When the current political administration in Sierra Leone took office in 2018, President Julius Maada Bio fulfilled one of his key campaign promises: to religiously revert to the dictates of the 6-3-3-4 system of education. The erstwhile administration had implemented four (4) years for senior secondary school, following recommendations from an inquest chaired by renowned academic Professor Gbamanja.
In addition, the president split the then Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) into two: the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE). As a show of intent, the government boldly declared that basic education would be cost-free. Unsurprisingly, this policy opened the floodgates, with older citizens seizing the opportunity to enroll in schools at various levels. I recall pupils as old as sixty (60) being celebrated in both social and mainstream media, all crediting their courage to return to school to President Bio’s call to action.
During the tenure of Alhaji Alpha Osman Timbo as Minister of the MBSSE, the payment of school fees subsidies, supply of teaching and learning materials, and other enablers were regular and predictable. Even when he was moved to the Labour Ministry, his successor, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, maintained the momentum. Payments were timely, supplies reliable, and accountability strong. During their leadership, heavily subsidised school bus services were introduced in every district headquarters town—even places like Kamakwie, Mongo, and Mattru were not left out. Parents also benefited from seamless innovations in accessing public exam results through a free online checker, ending years of exorbitant costs to retrieve results via the Internet.
However, once Dr. Sengeh was appointed Chief Minister and Conrad Sackey—then Commissioner of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC)—took over the MBSSE, things began to slide. Payment of school fees subsidies became not only inadequate but also embarrassingly irregular. The roll that previously guided subsidy computation was disregarded, with authorities citing inconsistencies uncovered during head counts by enumerators.
As school leaders and parents struggled with government’s growing indifference to its obligations, the situation worsened with the introduction of the Continuous Assessment Scores (CASS). Heads of public senior schools were directed to submit soft progressive reports on their pupils. While the intention may have been sound, in practice it opened a Pandora’s box. It exposed the inability of our institutions to process the data received, revealing just how unprepared we are for such initiatives.
My own daughter, who passed the transition exams to senior school in 2023 with an aggregate of 12, has still not been cleared by government to sit the 2026 pre-university examinations. I was told by a member of the IT department that her results may have been caught up in duplication errors. But this is impossible—I hold custody of all her documents and was solely responsible for her registration. With thousands of candidates’ futures now hanging by a thread, I call on the authorities to ensure that this debacle is never repeated.
It is nothing short of a miracle that heads of schools were able to deliver on their mandate to assess pupils during the just-concluded academic year. Government only paid school fees subsidies for a single term in the entire 2024/25 academic year—an unbelievable failure.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the Kenema Branch of the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) has issued an ultimatum: teachers will not report for duty when schools reopen next month unless the situation is addressed. Judging by reactions so far, this notice looks set to be a trigger, and the union’s approval ratings among frustrated teachers and parents continue to soar.
#Daramyibraheem
