The Project Manager of Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS) project, Jemillatu Lawally has on Thursday June 19, 2020, formally handed over a revised para veterinary curriculum to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the Ministry’s conference hall, Youyi building in Freetown.
The handing over ceremony which was organized at the ministry was well attended by representatives of the ministry, BAFS and other stakeholders concerned with the care and production of animals.
The BAFS project is funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF). The purpose of the curriculum is to improve teaching in tertiary institutions on animal health delivery services.
She said that the para veterinary curriculum would help to curb the shortage of veterinary workers in the country. She said that the first batch of para veterinarians would help to share knowledge in the subject matter which will boost the sector.
She called on the stakeholders to use the revised curriculum for the benefit of the country.
The deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Hon. Dr. Abu Abu Bakarr Karim, applauded BAFS for the handing over of a revised para veterinary curriculum to the Agriculture Ministry, adding “this will improve animal health delivery in the country.”
Prior to this, Dr Karim had explained that the Ministry of Agriculture collaborated with the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE), the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Njala University and other tertiary institutions to render an animal health and EPI-surveillance, to develop a unified curriculum that is tailored towards the needs of the sector and to initiate the process of developing a unified curriculum that sets the minimum standards required for would-be graduates to effectively meet the needs of the livestock industry and the private sectors. He noted that the curriculum is the first of a series of intentions meant to revitalize the livestock veterinary sector in the country.
“The main objective is to ensure the availability of a unified framework that guides the ongoing trainings for middle-level animal health workers who are able to deliver effective and quality services to farmers,” he added.
He also disclosed that BAFS has assisted tremendously in several activities like rehabilitating posts at Border Entry Points (POEs), formulating Livestock policies, providing solar freezers, drug and equipment to district livestock offices and POEs and in addition developing the revised para veterinary curriculum which was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture.
He promised BAFS that the Ministry would make a follow up, through the Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education, to ensure that the tertiary institutions made use of the document to ensure a unified curriculum in Sierra Leone which would help growth in animal husbandry and the welfare of domestic animals in the Country.
Explaining the revision process of the curriculum, the Policy Officer of the BAFS project, Gbessay Karbgo said that they formed a Committee of Lecturers comprising individuals from Njala university, Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) and Ernest Bai Koroma University, including representatives of the ministry and BAFS, which developed and popularized the draft curriculum. “We could not finalize the curriculum without validating it. So, together with representatives of the parliamentarians of both Agriculture and Education Committee, including other stakeholders validated the document,” he said.
He explained that they did series of desktop reviews, and funded the Ministry to send its representatives to Uganda to study what prevails in Uganda Livestock curriculum, what is happening in their cross border approaches, because Uganda has made progress in the area of livestock, adding that all of what was brought from Uganda reflected into that curriculum.
“I hope that we can give this document our support especially at political level so that it can be transferred to the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE) and the ministry to ensure that universities utilize the document.”
By Stephen V. Lansana
24/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7852