Creating a strong foundation for learning in Sierra Leone

CEO Alice Albright is in Sierra Leone for the launch of a new GPE-supported program.

February 01, 2019 by GPE Secretariat

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“The children of Sierra Leone deserve the solid foundation that a free quality education can give them. We invest in education because it transforms lives, builds communities and grows economies.”

Alice Albright

Alice Albright is in Sierra Leone this week to launch the US$17.2 million program ‘Getting it right – Building a strong foundation for learning’.

At a launch ceremony attended by President Julius Maada Bio, the First Lady, and several members of the Sierra Leone cabinet, the GPE CEO commended the government’s commitment to children.

Free quality education for all children is the flagship program of the new government because of the progress it will drive in other sectors. At the launch, President Bio said education was dear to his heart and central to Sierra Leone’s development priorities.

He added that the GPE support will be critical to help Sierra Leone reach the Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG 4).

Mary Hunt from DFID, which is the coordinating agency for education in Sierra Leone, added that GPE “drives lasting partnerships between the government and all other stakeholders to achieve systemic change,” calling this model “transformative”.

The GPE program, with UNICEF as grant agent, aims to build strong foundations for learning through increased equitable access to early childhood education, improvements in early grade reading and math, better school monitoring, data collection, learning assessment and analysis.

Once known for its high educational standards, Sierra Leone has suffered great blows to its education system due to a brutal civil war and the Ebola outbreak more recently.

Nonetheless, Sierra Leoneans bounce back and continue steadfast on the track to a better future – starting by getting education right for their children. A very good place to start.

View media coverage

Focus areas: Early learning, Literacy, Monitoring and evaluation

Regions and countries: Sub-Saharan Africa: Sierra Leone

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February 01, 2019 by Khazali Allen

Free elementary or secondary education in Sierra Leone or sub-Sahara Africa, does not guarantee, new technology occupational skills development, to sustain employment opportunities in current new global order job market place, especially when all schools are still using the same old British and French educational curriculum text book teaching.
Notwithstanding, there are still no clean water & sanitation facilities, energy and computerized educational systems in about 95% of schools in Africa. Free education means extra government expenditure funds, more teacher salaries and cost for teaching materials, and more pupil graduating from municipal schools, with no funds for college education, or to secure full term employment in scarce African labor- force.

February 03, 2019 by Samuel Gblah

I am a retired Science teacher and an Educational Administrator living in New York. I have read with lots of interest in your education venture and support for the President's new direction to improve the education of children in Sierra Leone. I have lived in New York for the past 46 years and taught for over 25 years. I am interested in helping push this project of trying to improve the education of youths in the country. Thank you so much for your support for my beloved country Sierra Leone. If there is anything I could do to enhance the projects, please feel free to contact me

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