Discussions

Your Name and Title:

Abraham Hai, Program Manager

School or Organization Name:

Every Child Matters - Sierra Leone

Co-Presenter Name(s):

Abdul Karim Koroma

Area of the World from Which You Will Present:

Sierra Leone

Language in Which You Will Present:

English

Target Audience(s):

Education Ministry, Head Teachers and Teachers

Short Session Description (one line):

Education for children is a serious challenge in Sierra Leone, particularly due to harsh economic realities, grinding poverty, and weak Infrastructures left behind by a prolonged and devastating war.

To date, an estimated 75% of children of school going age are still out of school; even those who enroll drop out of school before even completing   basic education.

The country is still grappling with the problem of quality education and progressive system to support education and psychosocial system in schools.

Despite the activities of Child Welfare Agencies both National and International, children in Sierra Leone have been systematically abused and exploited resulting in child poverty, lack of educational opportunities and child labor.

Free Education and other service delivery presently focuses on children in the first stage of education but the impact of the initiative is minimal. Thousands of children continue to be deprived from the acquisition of these facilities.

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

Promoting Rights in Schools initiative offers practical tools such as a simple charter of 10 rights informed by evidence collected using human rights and education indicators. For each of the 10 rights in the charter, it provides a series of indicators for which it is important to collect data. These indicators are organised in a survey format to enable users to capture information in a systematic manner. I believe the process is as important as the outcome. It is only through engaging all stakeholders, including children, parents, community leaders, NGOs and teachers’ unions, in the entire effort – from developing the charter to collecting and analysing the data and debating the findings – that we will promote greater awareness of what needs to change and how. The information collected can then be consolidated into local, district and national ‘citizens reports’ that can be used as a basis for future action including mobilisation, advocacy and campaigning.

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: