The missing piece in Reading and Writing puzzle - Sierra Leone

“…While the country has officially committed to increasing literacy, primary school teachers are unable to teach pupils to read and write. The teachers themselves are generally untrained and don’t have the books they need to help pupils.” - A Sierra Leonean educator

This comment was made at the opening of the training workshop of enumerators for the Le Wi Ol lan project - which means “let us learn” in Krio. Formerly called Opportunity Schools Program, the Le Wi Ol lan project includes CODE’s new Reading Sierra Leone initiative designed to improve students’ learning achievements in Kenema district in Sierra Leone. It will train teachers in reading and writing instruction and supply books to support teachers in the classrooms and stimulate student’s reading habits.

The baseline survey will guide teacher training and books acquisition and development and will assess 353 students in grades 1-3 between May 9th and 13th. The survey is coordinated by IRC field office in Kenema and CODE.

This project could not have been launched at a better time. There is clearly a lot of enthusiasm in Sierra Leone to increase reading and writing performance. During the training, I sensed that a number of educators on the team had been engaged in discussions about the sorry state of languages and literacy. I learned that they have been investigating ways to support classroom teachers at lower primary levels – the foundation of literacy acquisition. Literacy champions face limited resources and very little awareness about what work remains to be done.

The fact that local champions exist is special. It presents a unique opportunity for CODE to carry out teacher development and book development support. Indeed at the end of the training, I promised the enumerators that project schools will demonstrate a change in reading and writing abilities within 5 years.

This project was launched in Febrary 2011 and has initial funding from an anonomious foundation with strong interests in education and human rights in Sierra Leone. Together, CODE and IRC look forward to making a lasting change in the literacy and education of children in Sierra Leone.