The World Bank will provide Sierra Leone with US$50million towards the improvement of its education sector, a visiting senior official announced on Thursday.
Ousmane Diagana, Regional Vice President for Western and Central Africa, made the disclosure while visiting a Primary School in the capital, Freetown. Mr. Diagana is in Sierra Leone for a two-day official visit, his first in the country in this capacity since 2020.
A media advisory issued by the World Bank Country office prior to his arrival said Diagana would hold talks with senior government officials including President Julius Maada Bio, visit project sites the Bank is involved with and inaugurate the Bank’s new office complex in the country.
The Saint Luke’s Primary School in Wilberforce, Freetown was one of the first places the World Bank official visited on Thursday. He said in a statement there that the Bank was committed to providing financial resources and technical advice to Sierra Leone to enable its education system continue delivering for its people.
“Education is at the center of our priorities for Sierra Leone, currently we have a portfolio of 76.85 million dollars. This comes as an addition to the number of education projects that we have funded in Sierra Leone,” Diagana said.
“School is a game changer; education system is a game changer,” he stressed.
Diagana praised the Sierra Leone government for its vision of having an education system which is inclusive, accessible, and aims at achieving quality.
Prior to visiting the school, Diagana met with President Bio at State House. He said he used the opportunity to praise the Sierra Leonean leader for his government’s decision to allocate 22% of the country’s budget to education.
The education docket has been receiving the highest allocations in the last three years since Bio assumed office, in line with his promise of making the sector his priority.
The visiting World Bank officials also singled out Dr David Senegh, Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, for his “leadership and vision” in the education sector.
A news release from the presidency quoted Diagana saying that Sierra Leone had seen some progress, including “visible signs” of stability.
“We have seen signs that give hope. We will like to be part of the cooperation that will translate them into real occasions for Sierra Leoneans,” he stated.
“The [Covid-19] pandemic has impacted the new country partnership framework but there is good implementation of agriculture, education, energy, health, social protection and human capital development projects worth nearly $1 billion,” he added.
President Bio was quoted thanking Mr Diagana for his visit, noting that it would help him get firsthand information on the challenges facing the country.
“I would also like to express my appreciation to the Bank for providing additional financing of $18.2 million for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. I look forward to additional support for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide,” Bio said.
Saint Luke’s Primary is one of the schools that benefitted from the Bank’s support to the education sector.
Dr Sengeh recalled that one of the most exciting things that came out of the project was the engagement of teachers, including through training from Pre Primary to Primary 3. He attributed the “significant improvement” realized after Early Grade Reading Assessment and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGRA/EGMA) study was conducted.
Diagana also held a separate meeting with over 20 government ministers and technical leads across Ministries, Departments and Agencies following his meeting with the President earlier on Thursday. Among officials present at that meeting was Chief Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa, who said because the Bank was providing over 60% of development financing to the country, they needed to discuss certain triggers before any development policy operation.
The Bank has been the country’s leading development partner, supporting major investments in many sectors and with its affiliate, IFC, it has also been a key supporter of various private sector activities. Total current World Bank Group portfolio for Sierra Leone stands at $1.1 billion, covering 17 national projects.
