Nothing impacts children’s learning more than the quality of teaching. In Sierra Leone, a west African country that has been ravaged by civil war and Ebola, a lot of hope is being placed in the education system. Yet, less than half of primary school teachers have any formal teaching qualifications. At CODE, we want to help change that by offering scholarships to motivated young women who aspire to positively impact children’s lives as teachers. We’re a Canadian international development charity focused uniquely on promoting quality education and literacy. For the last 60 years we’ve been working towards a vision of a world where every child can realize their potential as literate, empowered and self-reliant citizens. Listen to learn more about education in Sierra Leone and how you can help.
Our host Emily Prashad interviews Dr. Johanna Kuyvenhoven who is a reading specialist and the lead at CODE in Sierra Leone.
In this mini episode we hear Jo read some the application letters of several of the scholarship participants.
For all the information on the scholarship program please visit our website.
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We are located at 321 Chapel Street Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 7Z2. 1-800-661-2633. info@code.ngo
This is Emily Prashad, and you're listening to a CODE mini podcast where we aim to provide you with interesting insights and perspective on the global literacy and learning crisis one question and one answer at a time.
Today, I'm speaking with Dr. Johanna Kuyvenhoven CODE Sierra Leone country lead. She’s spent 40 years in the education sector and 20 years working in Sierra Leone. Dr Jo welcome.
Oh, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here with you.
What difference do you believe that these scholarships are going to make in the lives of these young women? And more specifically, what I'm thinking about is how will it change the lives of not only themselves, but of their families and their communities?
I'd really like to read from some of the letters that we have from the scholarship recipients themselves. So let them say it in their own words. So here's a letter from Musa.
The passion I have for the development, my community is so great. Therefore, the only path, the only tool that can be used to bring the community people to light and understand their positive role that they can play towards human capital and economic development is through sound educational delivery. That is why I've developed a high interest towards a teaching career to equally give my own personal contribution towards national development.
Here’s a letter from Kadiatu who got her WASC degree. So she graduated very well from secondary school, but she could never enroll further because of her background. She writes. I lost my two parents during the 15 year war. Since then, I've only been supported by my aunt who is an ordinary farmer. She's trying, but she can't afford my school fees. The reason that I'm applying is that I've seen many girls who have been involved in early marriages, lost their focus on education, gone back to farming. I don't want to be like that anymore. I need this scholarship because a girl’s education is very important. As people used to say, when women are educated, the whole nation is educated and the nation will develop. Therefore, I want to be educated. I want esteem for myself. I want to see that I have contributed to the development of myself, my family, and the nation. So that was Kadiatu writing, very eloquent.
So this is from a young woman in Maforki. She writes. I have a mindset of supporting children who've been in similar circumstances I have underwent: poor support from home in terms of studies, struggling for basic amenities, exposure to situations that may easily take one's attention from school especially girls. In addition, apart from being a woman, I faced a lot of challenges while going through secondary school. At an early age, I gave birth to my first child, making me miss schooling for a while.
Then after completion of senior school, I gave birth to another. However, being a mother of two at this age has not killed my dreams of pursuing further studies. I believe it is only education that can help me move above this level. I absolutely do not want to end my career as a dependent housewife. I'm thinking of being reliant on myself and that's why I've chosen to teach voluntarily just to be abreast with school-related work.
Thank you, Dr. Jo, stay tuned for more CODE mini podcasts and if you're interested to learn more about our efforts to promote every child's right to learn and read, please visit us online at www.code.ngo