The heads of the various private schools expressed their frustration over the past ten years for the refusal of the then All People’s Congress government to approve their schools and commended President Julius Maada Bio for removing all bottle necks to have private schools approved. This approval will now see these approved schools eligible to sit to the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination in their various schools instead of them sending their candidates to take the exam under other schools.
Addressing the mammoth crowd outside his office, the Minister of Basic & Secondary School Education (MBSSE), Alpha Osman Timbo said the Sierra Leone People’s Party’s, 2018 Manifesto points out clearly that quality education should be accessed by every child and in doing that the private sector has a role to play in bridging the gap where one may be. “When I took over as Minister, I met stiff policies against the approval of private schools. But already government is trying to provide free education to every child and already, we have private institutions that have made lots of sacrifices and investments. So I thought it will be better for the people not to only rely on government facilities but to also have options to either enroll to government schools or private ones which will give equal access to them”, the Minister said.
