The government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), will reintegrate six hundred (600), out-of-school adolescent girls, into the normal school system in the next academic year (September 2022).
The program will be implemented by the Non-Formal Education Directorate (NFED), targeting Kambia, Koinadugu, Moyamba, and Pujehun districts, respectively, in the country.
The reintegration of out-of-school adolescent girls into formal schooling programs was a wake-up call called by many in the country, especially when many teen girls went out of school during the Ebola scourge in the country as a result of unwanted pregnancy.
The government’s targeted figures might be small, but it’s a good start for girls who dropped out of school due to factors that were not under their control.
This scheme is in line with the World Bank, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development; UNESCO; UNICEF; Education Above All Foundation; and other development partners' commitment to ensuring Sierra Leone achieves the "Zero Out-Of-School-Children" goal.
Ibrahim Kabia, secondary school teacher (name of school withheld based on a request by our interviewee), said, "The number might be small for a start considering the total number of girls that suffered from government actions to stop them from attending normal schooling."
Kabia stated that President Julius Maada Bio-led government's decision to overturn the law prohibiting pregnant teens from attending regular school is a first for education and child protection in Sierra Leone.
The scheme, according to Olive Musa, Director of Non-Formal Education, will be implemented by the government in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
She said the program will include access and identification of the targeted 600 out-of-school adolescent girls, with a preference for pregnant girls and lactating mothers in communities.
She said there are eleven government-established Community Learning Centres (CLC) where the out-of-school adolescent girls have gone through basic refresher orientations as they await reintegration into former schools in September 2022.
She confirms that the ministry will be visiting the project's targeted districts for the identification and registration of beneficiaries in the scheme.
The Director of Non-Formal Education said there are 9,000 out-of-school adolescent girls nationwide, of which they are only targeting 600, which represents 6.7 percent.
The Director said, "With such a huge number of needy pupils, we can identify those with pressing cases and enroll them in our community learning centers in the four districts."
The mandate of the Non-Formal Education Directorate is to provide education for out-of-school illiterates, targeting children, adolescents, youth, and adults in Sierra Leone.
The directorate facilitates and supports communities by establishing community learning centers at the chiefdom level, particularly in rural communities and hard-to-reach areas.
For details contact: asankoh@education.gov.sl
Sierra Leone President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio
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