The National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Schools in Sierra Leone aims to make all schools in the country accessible and inclusive of all pupils, especially those who are typically marginalized or excluded. Heather Marie Campbell, Country Director for Save the Children in Sierra Leone, emphasized that this regulation will only apply if children are in school.
“...Having safe and inclusive schools only matters if the children are there in those schools,” said Heather, at the launch of the Back to School campaign launch on Tuesday 21 September at the Freetown International Conference Centre, Aberdeen.
The Country Director explained that it is against this backdrop that the Global Partnership for Education NGO consortium was formed.
The consortium comprises four International NGOs which are Save the Children, Concern World Wide, Plan International, and Handicap International; and three local NGOs Focus 1000, Foundation for Rural and Urban Transformation, and Street Child Sierra Leone.
According to Heather, the consortium is part of the MBSSE’s education emergency response initiatives, which has been made possible with funding from the Global Partnership for Education, which is administered through the World Bank.
“We're particularly honored to contribute to the back to school campaign, and we've worked really hard to ensure that girls and boys who've been out of school, regardless of the reason whether it's poverty, disability, Child marriage, teenage pregnancy, had been supported to return back to school because we believe that every child has a right to education.”
Heather explained that the global COVID 19 pandemic led to unprecedented levels of disruption to education, impacting over 90% of the world's student population. “I was actually talking to country directors in other Save The Children programs, something like 80% of schools and their countries are still closed.
“So we're also very lucky in Sierra Leone that we've been able to work very closely together in a very special partnership in Sierra Leone, and I think our colleagues globally have recognized that this is unique, that you have, donors, and governments and civil society working so closely together to achieve an outcome.”
MBSSE’s Deputy Minister, Emily Kadiatu Gogra said that the consortium is answering the call of a very salient question, which is “how can we protect our generations, education... and the answer is with the MBSSE, the line ministries, and the consortium.”
Our ministry's vision is to see that all boys and girls, regardless of geographical location, socio-economic status, religion, or disabilities have access to free, and quality education, “as we refer it to radical inclusion.”
However, she said they have recognized that for various reasons. There are lots of school-age boys and girls that are not in school, due to both community factors, or other school-related factors as child marriage, teenage pregnancy, including also in our communities, traditional harmful practices like FGM and poverty, on one hand, and on accommodating school environments for girls, children, especially children with disabilities on the other hand.
The deputy minister said that children in Sierra Leone fail to complete primary school or to make the transition from primary to junior secondary school, which we refer to as JSS.
The completion rates, she highlighted are primary 64%, JSS the lower secondary 44% SS, the upper secondary 22%.
She further explained Sierra Leone has high levels of child marriage noting that 39% of girls are married before their 18th birthday, and 30% of girls give birth under 19, with the possibility of a proportion of them, not returning to school.
Country Director for Save the Children in Sierra Leone
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