The learning crisis in Sierra Leone

"Mohammed’s father is an illiterate petty trader. Although he never got any school himself, he has always been determined that Mohammed [13] should get a good education. When Mohammed joined us, we asked him, as we ask all our students, to complete a word reading assessment. The assessment, which we administer one-to-one in the child’s home, involves reading out a list of 90 words that increase in complexity and difficulty, and from the number and difficulty of the words read correctly an inference can be drawn about the student’s reading age based on UK norms. 

Mohammed got stuck straight away. He barely made it past the first line or two - words like ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘cup’, ‘said’. Mohammed’s father couldn’t read but he could see that his son was struggling and did his best to encourage him. “Try your best Mohammed”, he said. And Mohammed did. He kept trying. But no matter how long he took he couldn’t recognise the words, and eventually we had to call time on the test. Mohammed’s father was heartbroken. “I’ve paid all this money for school,” he said, “but his head is empty.” 

Unfortunately, Mohammed’s story is far from unique."

From an essay by Paul Skidmore, CEO of the Rising Academy Network

Street kids in Sierra Leone

A fascinating new report from Sierra Leone of a census of street children (via the Guardian): . Some headline results:

• In total there are just under 50,000 kids living and working on the streets in Sierra Leone.
• About half live in Freetown and half in other towns.
• There is a roughly even gender split with slightly more boys than girls.
• These kids make up around 5% of the urban population.
• 4,388 children under 6 years old were counted.
• 2,699 children were found sleeping rough.
• 1,821 under-age girls were recorded as working in the commercial sex industry.
• 633 disabled children were counted.

I would have loved to have seen a slightly more detailed age breakdown, and more detail on the types of economic activities these kids are doing. I’m a lot more worried about 8 year olds washing cars and polishing shoes than 17 year olds selling mobile phone credit. 

How Sierra Leone provided Free Health Care

On April 27, 2010, Sierra Leone started free health care for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children. John Donnelly takes an in-depth look at how the war-torn nation managed it.

There is even a brief cameo by Juba's finest payroll consultants;

A consultant from Booz & Company did an extensive analysis of the ministry's payroll of more than 7000 workers, which included all employees, even those who worked in remote health posts throughout the country. The analysis found more than 850 phantom workers, who were mostly retirees still receiving their salaries, however paltry. Those people were removed from the payroll, allowing the ministry to add 1000 new workers.

Stirring stuff - well worth reading the rest in full at the Lancet (although that Booz consultant does describe this as the "Hollyoaks version" of the story).