By: Saidu Jalloh (Intern)
The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education has on 1st October 2023 announced that they had reintegrated over 2,000 out of school girls back to school across four districts.
The Deputy Minister 1 of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Mrs. Emily Gogra affirmed that they had given those children school going materials like uniforms, books, pair of shoes, bag and pens with different kind of accessories ready for school.
‘’We are accomplishing what we have established in the radical inclusion policy to getting back this pregnant girls to school and getting them to learn and make themselves meaningful in their various societies to support themselves and to reactivate themselves again once more to be educated and the dropping down the number of out of school girls,’’ she explains.
The Minister added that the ministry is expecting a lot from Paramount Chiefs, Stake Holders, Bike Riders and even the Education Stake Holder in the community to help as much as possible so that these girls could stay in school.
Paramount Chief, Alusine Sankoh Yillah 2 of Gbninie Dixixng Chiefdom expressed that they were going to host a delegation from the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education led by the Deputy Minster 1, Honorable Madam Emily Gogra to come and assist in returning our adolescent girls in school by supporting them with school materials.
The Paramount Chief also opined that it didn’t mean that once you were pregnant you should go to school and we had seen a lot of kids from time of we started this radical inclusion plenty of kids had progressed.
“Kambia District is one of the less favored district in terms of education and the girl child education is even more challenging and for the ministry to think of an idea a novelty to come and assist the community, the poor parent and the children themselves to go back to school by supporting them with school material is indeed a welcome idea for me and my community,’’ PC Alusine Sankoh Yillah 2 explained.
Civil Society Activist in Kambia District stated that on behalf of the people of Kambia they were very much happy, and they wanted to say a million thanks MBSSE for allowing their adolescent girls back to school. The civil Society Activist also affirmed that the girls were very happy to return to school, and you would hear them shouting and jubilating. When they were asked if they wanted to return to school or to get pregnant which of the two they chose, they all shouted, we wanted to go back to school.
