One of the few well attended basic education institutions in Ward 349 located in Tuasu town, Makpele Chiefdom, Pujehun District, the Sierra Leone United Islamic Primary School is in dire need of support.
According to the Head Teacher of the school, Thomas Sandy, the institution which caters for about 300 pupils from the town and surrounding villages was built in 1989 by the National Commission for Social Action, NACSA and later rebuilt by the Sierra Leone United Islamic Mission with support from government.
The school, he said can boast of only one teacher and three unpaid, unqualified and untrained teachers, a situation which he said has posed enormous challenges for serving teachers, the School’s Management Committee and Pupils, Teachers Association.
Mr. Sandy also cited a number of other constraints facing the school including the lack of subsidy, basic learning materials such as register, chalk and approved syllabus.
In an attempt to salvage the situation, he said they had to improvise or acquire them through loans which do not always work well. He appreciated the high rates of access and retention in the school with 119 boys and 135 girls in attendance, and appealed for the introduction of the School Feeding Programme for the benefit of the underprivileged pupils in the school.
While commending government for introducing the Free Quality Education initiative and providing core textbooks for the school, he called on authorities in charge of education in the region to intensify their monitoring and supervision activities and ensure constraints facing them are addressed. He disclosed that the school has been doing extremely well in the National Primary School Examinations and appreciated the high level of community participation and contribution while appealing for more trained and qualified teachers and good conditions of service for teachers.
26/01/2021. ISSUE NO: 7988