By Augustine Sankoh
The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Mr Conrad Sackey, is attending the 2024 World Digital Education Conference in Shanghai, which is co-hosted by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. This year’s World Digital Education Conference is being held under the theme “Digital Education: Application, Sharing, and Innovation” in line with pushing forward digital transformation in education, as a catalyst for improving learning for all. The conference brought together over 600 participants, including high-level government officials, university leaders, international educational organizations and non-governmental organizations and enterprises to share practices, innovations and best practices in digital education. The conference also highlighted the innovative ways in which countries are achieving inclusive, equitable, and quality education through digital education transformation. Minister Sackey was invited to state Sierra Leone’s Education digitization journey, at a high-level ministerial meeting facilitated by the Minister of Education of The People’s Republic of China, Vice Minister of Education of The People’s Republic of China and the Mayor of Shanghai.
Highlighting Sierra Leone’s gains in digital education, Mr. Sackey stated that Sierra Leone has embarked on a transformative journey towards digital education, a path paved with dedication and innovation, noting that initiatives such as the Sierra Leone Learning Passport, a mobile digital learning platform that provides students with access to past exam questions, and other learning resources, is helping close the gaps in learning disparities and providing digital learning opportunities to all. “Another impressive initiative: Project Giga, in partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has expanded school connectivity efforts as well as boosted access to digital devices, ensuring that digital education reaches every corner of our nation,” he said.
According to Minister Sackey, MBSSE continues to develop educational content that aligns with global standards, adding that this is exemplified in the ongoing pilot integration of an AI-powered Lesson Planning Tool with partner, Fab Inc., to address challenges such as accessing varied lesson plans and creating custom tests faced by teachers in Sierra Leone, noting that these partnerships ensure that our students are exposed to diverse perspectives and cutting-edge knowledge, preparing them for an interconnected world. “It must be mentioned that the strides we are making in Sierra Leone’s education sector are also being supported by the generosity of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Through the Shanghai Funds-in-Trust (Shanghai-FIT) initiative, a technical guide for National Teacher Competencies and Teaching Standards Frameworks is being developed, which is further advancing South-South interventions and dialogue on teacher development and high-quality education,” he concluded.
