Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, has committed to recruiting one thousand two hundred (1,200) teachers in the country ahead of the next academic year, starting in September 2022.
The recruitment process will be led by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), and upon completion, it will bring the number of teachers on the government payroll to 37,500.
The chairman of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Conrad Sackey, said they have completed the development of the teachers’ recruitment forms with support from the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI).
Sackey said the forms are now available in electronic format, and that they will be completed online to ensure more teachers have access to them on a cost-free basis.
The chairman of TSC said the government has completed the formation of a recruitment committee and that they have been meeting regularly to work on the content and other modalities.
President Bio, in 2018, introduced its flagship program, the Free Quality School Education (FQSE), and employed it with free tuition, external examinations, the provision of core textbooks, and school feeding, mainly in some parts of the provinces.
The government's flagship program did not only increase school enrolment; it enables parents to save more money and employs 10,268 teachers nationwide to meet the overwhelming influx of pupils hoping to benefit from the scheme, among others.
The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, said, "Teachers make up 40 percent of the entire government’s payroll and that over 4,000 teachers have been placed in their right pay grade and over 300 school heads have been regularized."
The Minister went on, "In 2021 alone, we have recruited 1,000 teachers, increasing the number to over 36,000 teachers on the government payroll. We aim to increase this number to 37,500 by the next academic year. That’s the new direction, "he emphasized.
He was assured of the government's determination to invest in and promote teachers in the country because that is the path to national development.
The emergence of COVID-19 affected the educational sector, especially in 2020, when governments around the world were finding it difficult to cope with the containment of the virus. Reduced budgetary support to Sierra Leone from many nations and partners has led to huge pressure on the government to meet its financial support.
Despite the challenges, the government was able to implement its 30% salary increase for up to 34,350 teachers across the country. Teachers on the government payroll will receive another 45 percent raise two years later, in 2022.
Alhaji Mohamed Sesay, a teacher at Konta Kuma Senior and Junior Secondary School, in Port Loko district, Northern region, confessed, "I am a community teacher with over five years in the classroom and I have not been receiving a salary."
He confirmed, "In 2019, I was fortunate to be among the over 4,000 teachers that were approved by the government." The six of us were approved by my school, and the government's action motivated us and others. "
Between August 2020 and November 2021, the government appoints and upgrades over 500 principals and vice principals across the country, with more investment in school management and leadership structure.
For details contact: asankoh@education.gov.sl
Sierra Leone's Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh
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