Anti-Violence Movement Sierra Leone: Education is better than silver and gold

A Case Study on a Community Primary School

Compiled by Bernard Conteh Community Ambassador (Commonwealth School Enterprise Challenge Sierra Leone) and Global Change Maker Sierra Leone-British Council.

THE NAME OF THE SCHOOL AND FRONT DOOR

Background:

This is the biggest challenging slum community in Freetown since independence.

As the name implies Bay refers to a waterish community for decades and because of it legacy, it has drown attention to many people as a historical community during slave trade.

Nowadays when you reside at Kroo Bay someone will automatically class you as a poor, disadvantaged, misfortune, homeless and under-privileged.

This is one of the communities that have been neglected and abandoned.

Subsequently this is a community that has contributed to the development of Sierra Leone one way or the other.

Kroo Bay Community Primary School is a Community Based school established by community members to help children within the community to acquire Education since 1994.

Since it inception, it has being providing Primary Education to children in the Community especially to under- privileged and vulnerable children.

Because it is a community school, they have been neglected and limited to school facilities over the years forgetting the role they have being playing in promoting Education in Sierra Leone.

They offer education from Nursery to Class Six which is the final stage to enter Secondary School.

A lot of children have gone through this school since 1994 to date.

Parents, who do not have money to pay for their children to go to school, seek admission in this school. Most Parents rely on the Community School because they are within the same community.

Teachers in the school are volunteers and are working on NO salary basis because of the love they have for their community and respect for Education.

It is a pity and challenging cause for the children in the community especially in terms of Education and it benefits.

FRONT VIEW OF THE SCHOOL AFTER FLOODING

As you can see, since this school was built by the community, it has never gone through maintenance and painting. The structure is fading away and it loosing it form gradually.

Many times after flooding it takes a while (3-4 days) to come back to school because they have to clean up the floor and compound to look decent and clean to meet a school atmosphere.

BACK VIEW OF THE SCHOOL AFTER FLOODING

The back of the school is always the first to flood because the water goes through the back fast and circulates to other parts of the school.

It is hard to live a healthy and sound life in this community with a lot of mosquitoes at night. People live with animals together like pigs in their homes.

PICTURE OF MR. ABDUL BUNDU KAMARA- DEPUTY HEAD TEACHER

Mr. Abdul Bundu Kamara is the current Deputy Head Teacher of the school who is working with Eight (8) staff and one care-taker told the Global Change Maker/Community Ambassador- Bernard Conteh that they are facing a lot of challenges and that they need Support and Partnering school. According to him he said all the Teachers are Volunteers and are working on No salary since the inception of the school.

The school children are not paying school fees. This means it free Education.

Teachers barely cater for their welfare and school materials for the children.

‘Sometimes we ask parents to pay $2 per term as an appreciation and support to teachers which many parents cannot afford’ says Mr. Kamara.

Mr. Kamara further said that there have been a lot of visits and meetings with some local NGOs and Government who promised to capacitate the school and it teachers but it’s not working.

We love education and its significance. The children are the future leaders and we believe helping them with the basic education, will go a long way.

Many times we go to school happily and sound to educate our children but as soon as the weather changes we will become worried because when it rains the whole school flood.

There will be no option rather than allowing the children to go home with supports from the community youths.

During the Rainy Season, we are not 100% in control of the school because of the rain and it effects. There will be no school when it rains heavily whether on exams or not. The school has run out of materials such as stationeries as one of our challenges, paint and school furniture due to the continuous flooding and it affects.

A lot of the children come to school without lunch and untidy.

We have got series of this situation when children fall down and sometimes for a very long time due to no food and lack of medication.

The children are ready to learn because after any flooding they come back to school because they know the significance of education and there is no option.

If only we have donors and humanitarian organizations coming to our aid, we will definitely change their lives and will also shape the future of the young generation.

We need help to capacitate and to free our school from this disaster.

God will definitely bless you for whatever support you give to our cause.