The number of school age children in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba district, Sierra Leone has been increasing, but very few of the children attend school and even worse off many of the girls never completed their primary school education before they are forcefully married out. Even though the government plays a significant role in the payment of primary school fees, especially for girls, there are other school needs, which are preventing many underprivileged rural children from attending school. In addition, many children remain out of school because they lack access to school uniforms, bags, shoes, textbooks, notebooks etc. and other necessary learning materials for their education. This makes them feel inferior to others and leads to their dropping out of school. Some parents and children are also not aware of the rights to access education. The poor state conditions in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba district, Sierra Leone has been a serious obstacle to her socio-economic development, thereby lowering the standard of living.
With the respect to reinforce children’s rights with a vision of a world in which all children will have equal opportunities to access quality education so they can escape from poverty and fulfill their dreams. Movement towards education and youth empowerment-Sierra Leone engaged in a survey titled: “Out of school children” which aim to figured out the most vulnerable children who are been deprived from education in Kori Chiefdom so the organization can engage in helping to improve access and the right of these deprive children with quality education through the empowerment of these vulnerable children by striving to support them with school fees, school uniforms, bags, books, pens and other school learning materials in helping to aid their learning process on a yearly basis. The organization will also engage in spreading awareness and motivating parents in targeted locations on the importance of early childhood education, facilitating and supporting the model of Child friendly education system and to create interest amongst the children towards the formal education system.
The survey lasted for two days across (7) underprivilege rural communities, (Kwella, Foya-wulleh, Largo-kawema, Toobu, Njolorhun, Mogbodo, Mambayema, Konibortihun) in Kori Chiefdom, Moyamba district. This action was because of fulfilling the organization’s commitment in working towards Sustainable Development Goal four (4) and thus the successful implementation of a planned School Sponsorship Programme in Kori Chiefdom. The programme unit of MEYE-SL were able identified large number of school age children found in Kori chiefdom; the survey was conducted for the basic following reasons.
- The Out of school Baseline survey is conducted at the beginning of the School Sponsorship Programme to determine the vulnerability of children towards accessing education.
- To assess the awareness status of community members on the importance of early childhood education and educational opportunities available for depriving children to access education in the communities prior to the implementation.
- To quantify the educational facilities that are currently present in the target communities, the state of these facilities, their location, design and sustainability including the general educational situations of the children, and the beneficiaries’ perception towards our approaches.
The survey generally covers access to quality education (including provision of learning materials like school fees, uniforms, bags, shoes, textbooks, notebooks, pens etc.) Spreading awareness and motivating parents in target locations on importance of early childhood education, facilitating and supporting the model of child friendly education system and to create interest amongst the children towards formal education system.
