Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Mr Conrad Sackey on Thursday 16th November 2023 paid glowing tributes by commending the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Milton Margai Technical University (MMTU), Dr Philip John Kanu for transforming the MMTU that had become moribund underscoring that it is important to recognize leaders who have created impact in the development of the country.
He made the statement during the courtesy call to the Vice Chancellor and Principal of the Milton Margai Technical University who is also Chairman of, the Board of Governors of the Government Technical Secondary School, Congo Cross in Freetown, the Lady Patricia Kabba Memorial Secondary School, Goderich in Freetown and the Benevolent Islamic Secondary School in Makeni, Dr Philip John Kanu made at his New England Ville office in Freetown.
Dr. Kanu was accompanied to the ceremony by the principals, the Chairmen of the Board of Governors and some pupils of the three schools.
The Minister articulated that technical/vocational education is close to his heart, that it is important for a developing country like Sierra Leone and affirmed that technical/vocational education is not second class as people can proceed to go into entrepreneurship.
According to the Minister, research is key to performance, warned teachers not to demand money from parents for which he has received a lot of complaints and observed that fundamental learning is the centre point of education.
Mr. Conrad Sackey went on to reveal that the Ministry has received $20 million from the World Bank, another $13 million for out-of-school children and $40 million respectively all geared towards improving education in the country, assured that “all is not lost” and that the Ministry would correct the gaps as no child would be left out of the educational system.
In his statement, Dr. Philip John Kanu, who also chaired the event, congratulated the Minister on his appointment asserting that the principals of the three schools cannot supervise their schools and implement various government policies without interacting with the Minister and observed that the Minister has made tremendous improvements in academia citing the unprecedented increase in the pass rate in public examinations.
He also revealed that he has initiated research on the three schools on why they are not excelling in English Language but Mathematics, that he wants to cultivate students for the Technical University to study the sciences and Technical/Vocational Education as well as for the MMTU to undertake tracer studies.
According to Dr. Kanu, apart from remuneration, there are several factors responsible for poor teacher performance and invited the Minister to visit the three schools revealing that Benevolent Islamic Secondary School in Makeni is one of the best in the North of the country.
Dr. Kanu also disclosed that last week they launched the fencing project for the Benevolent Islamic Secondary School.
The Principal of the Government Technical Secondary School, Mrs. Katta revealed that the Minister is not new to the education sector as he knows the problems and has resolved some, that his school is implementing the radical inclusion policy citing the Head Boy who is visually impaired, that subsidies are forthcoming and assured that the school would work hard to excel in public examinations.
The principal of the Benevolent Islamic Secondary School underscored the need to analyze data on the learning process as there is a change in the dynamics, that the school administration always analyses examination results as well as measures the apparatus and highlighted some of their challenges as the payment of 23 part-time teachers intimating that most of them are paid from the subsidies depriving the school of embarking on other projects
The principal of the Lady Patricia Kabba Memorial School, Mrs. Beatrice Sillah enlightened that since its establishment nineteen years ago this is the first time the school has scored aggregate 1 in a public examination, that the school has over 20 un-coded teachers and that it is the only government school in the community.
She went on to call on the Minster to provide more buildings for the school as accommodation is a major challenge as well as fence the school compound.
The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of gifts to the Minister while the vote of thanks was rendered by the Head Boy of the Government Technical Secondary School.
