His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has announced the banning of corporal and degrading punishments on school going pupils in Sierra Leone.
Signing into law of the Basic and Senior Secondary Education Act the president said parents should allow their children to go to school because they no longer have to pay tuition fees for them.
The Act he said addresses the deficiencies of a 19-year-old law that is now out of step with his government’s new vision, policies, programmes and administrative arrangements, consolidates the gains of the past five years and offers a foundation to continue to transform education in the future.
“The Act focuses on the importance of foundational learning. It ensures that we will provide our youngest citizens with the best possible start to life in school. From the age of five, every child will be entitled to one year of free and compulsory pre-school education at a facility with trained and qualified teachers,” he told his audience.
He said the Act asserts the right of every child in Sierra Leone to an inclusive, disability friendly, and physically and psychologically safe classrooms, adding that in particular, pregnant girls, parent learners, children from the poorest households, children living with disabilities, and children from underserved communities must have the opportunity to succeed in school.
Sierra Leone’s First Lady, Her Excellency Dr. Fatima Maada Bio said in the last five years, President Bio has believed in advancing democracy by removing the death penalty, repealing the seditious libel law that used to criminalise free speech and stifle journalism, passing into law the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act, and now the Basic and Senior Secondary Education Act.
