16/07/2017
*VILLAGE RESIDENTS CALL FOR IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM*
*By: Musa Barrie*
*Residents in a very tiny village in a strategic area called Fulamansa, which is located between Sierra Leone and Guinea border and some 35 miles away from the Koinadugu district headquarter town of Kabala, Northern Sierra Leone have on Monday 3th July 2017 informed the EDUCATION MICROSCOPE NEWSPAPER that they are facing numerous challenges in accessing better and improved education for their children.*
*A reliable source from the village confirmed that for quite a considerable period of time there had not been any improvement in terms of offering qualitative education in that part of the country. He went further to disclose how his village is a vulnerable community in terms of accessing better and quality education.*
*Fulamansa village traditional leader, Alhaji Chernor Abdul Jalloh, expressed his deepest dissatisfaction towards the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for neglecting them for so long. He went on to state that they have only one primary school functioning in the whole village. “If it wasn’t one of their indigenes who is based in the United States of America that came to our aid by building the only primary school our village would have been a totally non-educational zone,” he lamented.*
*A parent intimated that two of his children have already dropped out of school after sitting to the NPSE. According to him they dropped out because he cannot afford to relocate them to Kabala Town in order to pursue their education. He added that many parents have been facing a similar situation for decades now.*
*Another parent in a very sad mood expressed the view that her 15 year old daughter is now a victim of teenage pregnancy after she was relocated to Kabala Town just to access higher education. “I am still wondering what the future holds for my daughter and girls in similar situations within this vulnerable community,” she bemoaned.*
*One of the teachers of the primary school also complained that they have been facing various challenges ranging from lack of government recognition, little or no incentives and lack of proper teaching materials and syllabus that would guide them. “We have many smart and clever pupils in this village who have been out of school because of less support to enable them continuing with higher education.* *As a result of that many girls have been already forced into early marriage. We feel marginalized to the highest degree by the Ministry, District Council.*
*“Personally I am always in pain to see my pupils suffering. No wonder why many are now crossing the border to Guinea,” he stated adding that if the neglect continues for the next five years he foresees a vast majority of Sierra Leonean children in Fulamansa and its environs giving up their Sierra Leonean nationality.*
*He disclosed how the school feeding is just a nomenclature as it is non-existing. “We are calling on H.E the President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma to immediately come to our aid otherwise we are still apprehensive about what the future holds for our already marginalized poor boys and girls in this part of Sierra Leone,” he appealed.
