Support for the Education Sector in Sierra Leone (SESSiL), a project funded by the European Union (EU), under the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School Education (MBSSE) has on Thursday October 1, 2020, validated its report on mainstreaming gender in the education sector at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown.
The purpose of the report is to assess the level of progress made so far in actualizing gender equality and related policies in the implementation of development projects. It also aims at revealing the challenges institutions face in their effort at gender mainstreaming and the opportunities encountered when gender projects are being implemented. It also seeks to incorporate findings from primary data collection and to also validate or amend preliminary findings, opportunities and risks on emerging gender issues.
The report is segmented into three aspects. They are; the Macro level, which consist of factors that set the overarching context for any work that is related to women and girls; the Meso-level , which explores barriers that impact women and girls at group level; and the Micro-level examines barriers that are applicable at the individual level which includes community and family level advocacy among other factors.
The Director of Gender at Fourah Bay College (FBC), Dr. Alphaeus Koroma, in his presentation said that the report also reflects on some of the major concerns of the research which are based on the quality of education; trained and qualified teachers; the safety of girls; teenage pregnancy; the need for girls to complete school; and large number of over-aged students in the education system.
He revealed that 23 % of females are literate, compared to 36 % males in Sierra Leone, and added that the gap in the level of education between the two sexes is a reflection of a how widespread is the problem of women and girls’ marginalization in the country.
According to Koroma, the report indicates that the policy which had been instituted by government to ban pregnant girls from attending school had a ripple effect on teenage girls, who by some reason became pregnant during that period. He noted that cultural barriers, are underlying factors affecting women in the country.
Director of Education Programmes and Services for MBSSE, Milton Mansaray Pearce, said that the findings and recommendations of the report are expected to be endorsed and implemented by MBSSE, and by so doing they would be part of the country’s educational system.
“We are trying to strengthen the gender unit by making it more proactive. Gender issues would be brought to the fore. We ensure clarity in our operation and implementation of gender programmes at the ministry by taking informed decisions because of the empirical evidence of what is obtained in the society regarding gender issues,” Pearce said.
He added that the research would keep them informed with the data provided which would enable them to take actions by putting gender in the forefront.
He furthered that the gender unit at MBSSE was initially under the guidance and research department, but a new organogram has created an independent gender unit.
By George M.O. Williams
6/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7924