Over 1.5 million school children are expected to benefit from the Free Quality School Education initiative at the start of this school year September 17.
This flagship initiative, launched today is part of the SLPP Government’s initiative under the leadership of HE President Julius Maada Bio, to ensure increased access to government-assisted schools for all children from pre-primary to senior secondary levels across the country.
With support from donor partners including UK Aid, World Bank, Irish Aid, World Food Programme and UNICEF, this initiative will be phased over five years, and will waive the payment of tuition and admission fees and provision of teaching and learning materials with an initial emphasis on English Language and Mathematics text books to all secondary schools in the country. It will also ensure that payment for public examination fees such as the National Primary School Examination (NPSE), Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE) are waived.
“The waiver of fees for learning in any form will definitely ease the burden on parents and guardians who are making a lot of sacrifices under extremely difficult economic conditions to see their children become educated,” said Alpha Timbo, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education in a recent interview with AYV at his New England office.
He had added that this initiative by the new government will no doubt increase educational outcomes and “human resource capital will be strengthened to meet the growing social and technological revolution in a globalized world.”
Parents on their part are encouraged to provide uniforms and some text books for a start and continue with their traditional role of home supervision, support and coaching to ensure they take maximum advantage of this opportunity.
The initiative is receiving support from DFID, UNICEF and many other national and international partners.
