Feature
By: Mohamed Jalloh
It was a deliberate departure from the past government`s policy that failed in prioritizing education, to witness the launch of president Bio`s free summer school on the 5th of August 2022.
The free summer school launch was a sequel to the free and quality education (FQE) that was officially introduced at all levels of the schooling strata on August 20 2018, about four years ago.
The fact is irrefutable, never in the history of Sierra Leone had parents witnessed the current momentum into summer schooling.
In his wisdom, president Bio ensured that the programme had a national reach and composition.
It was deliberate and thoughtful. All 16 districts in Sierra Leone are currently benefiting from the initiative.
The rationale was to attach a nationalistic flavour to the programme irrespective of political consideration.
There are coordinators, supervisors and principles appointed in each district that register pupils and ensure the daily implementation of the programme.
The time out of normal schooling could be very tempting to indulging in vices for both male and female pupils. For girls, this is the period they are susceptible to attraction from the opposite sex having attained the puberty age.
They could be acutely vulnerable to teenage pregnancy. Apart from their male contemporaries chasing them, older and financially stable men could be lurking around.
By attending the president`s free summer schooling, the risk of girls getting pregnant is largely narrowed. Rather than focusing on promiscuous activities, they would be preoccupied with their educational studies.
Holiday periods could be equally tempting for boys.
The peer group pressure could be very difficult to resist.
Such a break period from school is normally regarded as “Kool” by boys. At the adolescent stage the pressure is alive. They could be introduced into smoking substances such as “Kush” and “Shisha” which would ultimately divert their attention and study time into self-destructive activities.
This could also take the form of other vices such as pickpocketing and gambling. Similarly, with the launch of the free summer school, boys would hardly reserve time and energy to indulge in dangerous extra-curricular activities.
Therefore, it could be affirmed without contradiction that the launch of the free summer school is saving the younger generation of Sierra Leone from vice addiction. This could only happen in a country where the president has an unwavering conviction to use education to unlock the nation`s developmental capabilities.
It is remarkable to see multitudes of pupils in each centres across the country focused on acquiring education, when they are supposed to be on holidays.
The turnout is awe-inspiring. Summer school centres across the country are been overwhelmed by the sheer number of pupils` attendance. One such center is the benevolent secondary school in Makeni.
Abubakarr Saal the district supervisor maintained that three or more centers will be needed if president Bio were to replicate the programme next year.
Similar sentiments were re-echoed by the supervisors of centers in Freetown, Western Area.
Teachers were also selected across the country to transfer knowledge to the pupils in all subjects.
It is not a voluntary exercise, at the end of rendering their services, they would be appreciably remunerated. This was assured by the national coordinator of free summer school Dr Brima Kapuwa.
Before now, only parents that could afford the cost, endeavor to send their children to a summer school.
Some could hardly shoulder the financial burden of sending their children to normal schooling, talk less of incurring the extra cost of summer schooling for more than three dependencies.
With the launch of the free summer school, unplanned extra educational expenditure on parents during the thick of the rains is over.
The Bio led government with its foresighted lens has shouldered the financial responsibility on behalf of parents.
The solemn desire by president Bio to prevent a child from being driven out of school for tuition is currently transmigrating in to free summer schooling.
