By Lamin Bangura
At a press conference convened by the Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Civil Rights Coalition, Alphonso Manley, in partnership with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), and stakeholders, he highlighted the significant strides made in Sierra Leone’s $70 million Free Education Project. Launched in 2021 with funding from a Multi-Donor Trust Fund backed by the British Government, World Bank, Irish Aid, US Embassy, and German Government, the initiative aims to overhaul education access and quality before its conclusion in 2026. Managed by a World Bank-led Project Implementation Unit (PIU) based in Regent, the project’s ambitious scope has fueled public debate over its tangible impact.
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), acting as education monitors and advocates, issued an urgent appeal to the MBSSE Secretary to compile and publicly release verifiable evidence of success across all seven project components immediately. This demand for comprehensive documentation is declared essential for public accountability. Simultaneously, journalists were called upon to independently scrutinize reported achievements against on-the-ground realities.
The project’s seven-pillar framework begins with systemic reforms in policy, governance, and accountability. This includes pivotal support for Sierra Leone’s five-year Education Sector Plan—the nation’s strategic blueprint—and the creation of a School Catchment Area Policy to guide need-based construction of primary or secondary schools. Despite progress, concerns linger over inadequate public dissemination of these policies and weak community engagement. Component 1 also standardized school establishment through a new Approval Framework, advanced revisions to the outdated WASSEC Act of 1984, and strengthened data-driven decision-making via the Annual School Census.
Teacher quality forms the cornerstone of the second pillar, focusing on improved deployment, management systems, and continuous professional development to elevate classroom instruction nationwide. Subsequent components tackle school-level development through performance-based financing, new construction, renovations, and health programs; enhanced monitoring, reporting, and partnerships; emergency response mechanisms; COVID-19 recovery efforts; and foundational learning for early childhood education (Pre-Croll to Primary 4).
With the 2026 deadline approaching, the Coalition underscores that documenting concrete outcomes across these pillars is non-negotiable. Transparent evidence and independent verification, they assert, are the only means for Sierra Leoneans to trust that this $70 million investment has delivered a more resilient and equitable education system.