In Sierra Leone a happy future is an educated one

Dr Julius Madda Bio, the President of Sierra Leone, this week explained why his country has decided to invest 22 per cent of its annual budget in education

Children playing at a school in Sierra Leone

In the words of Martin Luther King: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

We are facing unprecedented, multiple interlocking challenges, which started in 2019 with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, barely a year after I was elected to office.

The pandemic reversed decades of hard-won macroeconomic, socioeconomic and governance gains in Africa. Over 50 million Africans have been plunged into extreme poverty, and most African economies have teetered on the brink of economic depression.

As if the pandemic did not cause enough damage, the Russia/Ukraine war has also come along with its profound implications. Completely disrupting Africa’s promising recovery by raising food and fuel prices causing significant inflation and financial instability, interrupting trade, tightening fiscal space and reducing development finance flows to Africa, among many others.

We are currently being challenged, tried and tested.

The last few years have reaffirmed that all our fortunes are inextricably intertwined. We have seen how a few people infected with a disease in one town can lead to deaths globally.

We have also witnessed a crisis in one geographical region of the world having a widespread impact across the globe. This attests to the fact that we have a shared destiny, and the sooner we work collectively towards a common global good, the better for our generation and our children.

If the events of the past few years have taught us anything, it is that people are far more important than any possessions or politics and that our success depends on each other.

We have been starkly reminded of the value of those who might be deemed to be on the lower rungs of society all over the world. The workers who harvest our food. The delivery persons who ensure packages get to us. People many referred to as unskilled.

As the pandemic spread and we lost loved ones, we relied upon each other to act in ways that would end the spread. We learned very clearly how central people are to all our economies and political stability everywhere.

As a human race, our ultimate strength has definitely been tested in the past few years. Through it all, we have shown resilience, grit, ingenuity and determination to evolve stronger from the troubled times we’re passing through.

In Sierra Leone, despite our natural resources, we have acknowledged that our most substantial asset is our human resources, comprised mainly of a young and dynamic population.

My government has always put people at the heart of its agenda. This is why human capital development is central to our national development plan. Our vibrant population is a great asset to sustainable economic growth and development. Hence, we made free quality school education for all our flagship national development program.

Since assuming political leadership in May 2018, rather than focusing on digging in the ground and mining the natural resources – like diamonds – that Sierra Leone is renowned for, our New Direction Agenda focuses on nurturing the potential of our children and then mining their talents to become productive citizens.

Investing in quality education for the future generation is the most valuable and the only truly renewable resource in the world today.

I am proud to say that our investment in education increased from 11 per cent to 22 per cent of our annual budgetary allocation to support primary, secondary, higher, technical and vocational education and training. My Government’s Free Quality School Education program now caters to 2 million pupils nationwide.

This is in addition to the gains we have already made in education by improving school governance, building more school infrastructure, expanding school feeding, accelerating the use of technology and innovation in education delivery and management, publishing developmentally appropriate learning resources and materials, and implementing a new school curriculum.

Over 600,000 additional children, especially girls, accessed schools last year. Over 5,000 additional qualified teachers were recruited, and we recorded a higher success rate in public examinations at all levels.

My government particularly takes the education of girls very seriously. Many parents no longer resist sending their daughters to school, knowing that our Government pays for their tuition, teaching and learning materials, and public examination fees.

We also have legislations supporting reforms in education, like the Universities Act of 2021 and the Sierra Leone Students’ Loan Scheme Act of 2021, that have opened up more access to technical and higher education.

I often say that the future is stolen from those who do not prepare for it today. Indeed, beneath every great nation and people lies a foundation that was laid yesterday. We want education to be that foundation for it intersects with every aspect of national development

I was born into a modest and large family. The son of a paramount chief whom I lost at the tender age of four and an industrious mother of blessed memory who was not formally educated.

My mother greatly valued learning and education, ensuring that her children had the opportunities she did not get growing up.

Because of the educational opportunities I was given, a young boy from humble beginnings in a village called Tihun in Bonthe District, Sierra Leone has been able to aspire and become President of our great nation.

My passion for education is rooted in my DNA. I will not rest until every child in Sierra Leone and beyond has the same opportunity.

As our world becomes ever so complex and unpredictable, we anticipate more challenges to our capacity to provide stable democratic leadership to our people. As the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde noted, we are faced with growing distrust and division, both within and across societies, and we need to find common ground where it exists.

So, we keep listening to our people and their needs. We listen to our women, whom we consider equal members of society, without whom we would be nothing. And we listen to our young people, whose brilliance dazzles us, whose energy drives us, and whose questions challenge us to rethink the way we do things constantly.

We need investments in critical sectors, including education, agriculture, health, infrastructure and the extractive sector. We can work together to move Sierra Leone to the next level.

According to Sir Winston Churchill: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” We cannot change the past. We cannot know the future. But we must work resolutely in the present to surmount any challenges that stand in the way of peace, progress and prosperity.

President Bio was attending the ‘Leadership in Troubled Times: The Sierra Leone Example’ event staged at the House of Lords on 21 November 2022.