A Chinese delegation from one of the provinces in the People’s Republic of China, led by the Deputy Governor, has on Thursday 23 May, 2024 paid a courtesy call on the Hon Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh at his Tower Hill Office in Freetown.
The Governor during his statement disclosed the donation of One Hundred Thousand United States Dollars for school furniture and other learning materials to address some of the challenges facing the school system in Sierra Leone. Hon Vice President Dr Jalloh in his remarks described the visit of the Chinese delegation as exciting and interesting. He expressed delight that the Deputy Governor is passionate about building the educational sector, noting that most of the Governor’s statements centered on supporting education.
The Hon Vice President Dr Jalloh informed the delegation about the challenges facing education in Sierra Leone before the President Julius Maada Bio-led administration assumed office in 2018. He added that the new Government declared the Free Quality Education (FQE) for primary and secondary pupils to address the inherited challenges facing education.
He maintained that the FQE initiative double the population of pupils in schools in the last six years including women and young girls who did not have the opportunity to enroll in schools. He re-echoed the importance of education to the Government and the people of Sierra Leone.
Hon Vice President Dr Jalloh furthered that the Chinese Government is providing support to education that is a priority of Government of Sierra Leone. He thanked the Chinese Government for the Confucius Institute at the Fourah Bay College (FBC). He added that there is growing interest to enroll at the Institute. He expressed happiness about the relationship that has existed between the FBC and Njala University (NU), and universities in the Chinese province. He believed the relationships are going to help the FBC and Njala University greatly, because they are the two leading universities in the country. He stated that linking the two universities in Sierra Leone with universities in the province will help in the exchange of faculties and students.
He recalled having discussion with a Special Envoy from the Chinese President sometimes ago on cultural and educational exchange, adding that he recommended to the Envoy about relationship building between Chinese universities and Africa universities. He went on to say that the recommendation was meant to ensure the relationships build a body of knowledge on the excellence things that happened between China and Africa for successive generation to read the books and be informed about the time duration of the relationships. He noted that the best transfer of skills and knowledge of supporting African countries has to pass the university.
Vice President stated that the project China is supporting to link faculties between Njala University and universities in the province to learn skills, get knowledge and training is the future of development for Sierra Leone and Africa countries. He expressed appreciation for the relationship between universities and China, university can be a vehicle to drive development, industrialization and technology.
He assured the delegation to take the relationship between FBC and NU to a higher height, stressing that the relationship is very important for the development of the country. He promised to work with the Ambassador to ensure that Sierra Leoneans take the training seriously and get the skills that is needed because, it is very important to drive small medium enterprises to grow. He noted that Sierra Leoneans will take a very good advantage of the opportunities, noting that he is glad for the cultural center while assuring the delegation to discuss with the Ambassador for the development of the cultural center.
Vice President Dr Jalloh noted that teaching and learning materials are a challenge in schools in Sierra Leone due to the increase in the enrollment of pupils. He personally thanked the Governor for the one hundred thousand dollars donated for the teaching and learning materials, noting that the materials will be well appreciated by schools that will be receiving the items.
By: Aaron Bundu Lahai-Head of Media & Public Relations
