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 discuss the state of the education system in Sierra Leone and what gaps needs to be filled.
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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.
I understand in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, 88% of children or not meeting minimum proficiency levels and literacy. And that 17 million qualified teachers are needed just in sub Saharan Africa to meet the UN's goal of universal access to primary and secondary school by 2030 and that’s a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. I'm just hoping you can help us understand the learning crisis in Sierra Leone.
Just imagine that you're a child, you live in a home where farm or trading or tailoring is the main occupation you learn about this by working with, and alongside your family. You play in your neighborhood. You're learning the languages of two to three groups of people mingling. You go to the mosque or church, two places of verse, chanting, singing, learning, but there's very, very little reading done at the home front. Now you go to school, your teachers just got a blackboard and she has very, very little training beyond her own school experience.
And along with the paucity of books or other supports, the chances of your learning to read are as slim as research bears out and you just named the statistics. And learning to read matters. It's not just about reading good books. It's about being able to read directions, find information. It's about being able to read directions on your medication or knowing how to take care of your health. It's about participation. Being able to communicate on paper or with the Internet. It's about having access to news. It’s about being able to read a contract in which you're underpaid or a notice when somebody tries to evict you, It's about transparent accounting and civil participation, and it's about enjoying the delights of literacy, the pleasure of satisfying curiosity, about a subject, being able to record your own thoughts and ideas and experiences.
So children are not learning to read fluently strongly and well. Children's literacy rates are, are alarming. I've just finished a project with CODE. We found out that just half of the Grade Ones know up to half of the alphabet. Grade Twos can read an average of about 10 words only. And none are reading a grade level passage with understanding. Just 1% of fourth graders can read a passage at their level.
As it concerns a nation in urgent need of economic development, having a strong health sector, having policy and governance work underway, encouraging creative entrepreneurship. These low literacy levels significantly affect the national prognosis. Low levels of literacy does not create poverty but it is frequently aligned with poverty. Nations that languish at the lower end of the UNHDP Quality of Life Index are also countries where the levels of literacy are lower.
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