The Education Committee of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic expressed disappointment over the poor distribution of the Free Quality School Education (FQSE) learning materials in the south and east of the country.

As such, the Free Quality School Education, by the look of things seems failing the most vulnerable children.

Performance Audit on the management and distribution of teaching and learning materials, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education published in November of 2022 covering 2018-2021 revealed.

The Performance Audit on the distribution of teaching and learning materials quoted the 2018 annual school census that indicated that at the primary level, the student textbook ratio then stood at 3.1 and around 4.1 for science textbooks.

In January 2019, it was disclosed that joints support from the UKAid and the government of Sierra Leone to the FQSE programme has provided textbooks, teaching and learning materials worth 221 billion Old Leones, which is USD26.2m in equivalent, the report revealed.

Despite the huge financial concentration on the FQSE, in overall, management and success remains a concern to many, the report stated.

It’s against this background, the Audit Service Sierra Leone in line with its legal mandate planned and conducted a performance audit in the ministry with the view to access the distribution of teaching and learning materials to government and government assisted schools.

More on the report.