First Female Science School in Salone to Open in September

All things being equal, Sierra Leone will in September 2021 open the Nyapui Senior Secondary School of Excellence. The country’s first female science school currently under construction in Combema Town, Kenema District, Eastern Sierra Leone, stands on a four-acre land and will cater for about 360 girls.

Recruitment of a principal and science teachers is ongoing.

Nyapui School (Nyapui means young lady in Mende) holds seven classrooms, four laboratories for Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Computer, teacher’s common-room, multi-purpose hall, accommodation for Principal, library, kitchen, food store, plus a 360-bedroom hostel to house the pupils. The project also includes the provision of a school bus to transport girls from the main town to Cobema, about 3 miles’ distance.

The school is being constructed under a project called ‘Improvement of Education Infrastructure and Quality Education Service in Kenema district’ implemented by SEND Sierra Leone with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through Terra Tech Forderprojekte e.v.

Madam Agnes N. Kamara is the Deputy Director of Education in the Kenema District. During a tour of the school last week in the company of the donor representatives, implementing partner and district stakeholders to monitor construction progress, she said the education of the girl child in Africa is difficult due to backward customs and tradition, as well as economic and societal factors that in most cases lead to girls dropping out of schools. Kenema is known for its high rate of teenage pregnancy.

She noted that Nyapui Senior Secondary School of Excellence is one school the country needs.

“Due to the poor foundation of sciences at the Secondary School level, most girls upon enrollment at the university go for soft courses, which in most cases are not what they desire and not what the job market wants. This school (Nyapui Senior Secondary) will begin to change that trend and we will begin to see girls opting for the sciences and excelling,” said madam Kamara.

She encouraged the community people to provide guidance and security for the girls and also ensure they own the project which according to her will expose their community to the rest of the country as girls will be coming from everywhere to access education in that facility.

The Chairman of TERRA TECH Forderprojekte e.v, Gangolf Seitz, said they are impressed with what they have seen in terms of the progress that has been made within a short period.

“We are impressed with the work that has been done so far. But there is a need for computers, solar electrification, Internet connectivity, and other items to ensure the effective operation of the School of Excellence. And it is everybody’s responsibility to achieve that excellence; from the community to the pupils, teachers, principal, district officials, and the education ministry,” said Gangolf.

Gangolf is also concerned about the teachers, especially those referred to as ‘untrained and unqualified’.

“Our focus has been on teaching of the assistant teachers because we have found out that there are assistant teachers who lack some knowledge that the teacher should have and therefore we have decided to give them the training to enable them to teach better and that will benefit the children who they would be teaching,” he said.

During the tour, the team met with the community people, including the land-owning families. The people appreciated the school project and appealed to the Kenema District Council to construct the road leading to the school from the township as it would improve access to the school and open the community to commercial activities, and ultimately development. They further appealed for the construction of a perimeter fence for security purposes and to protect the school from negative outside influences.

The Kenema District Council Chairman, Mohamed O’Level Sesay, who was also part of the monitoring delegation, maintained that girl child education has been left out for far too long and that has affected development nationally. He called on parents and the community people to embrace the development and to play their own part by first sending their girls to the school and then regularly monitor their movements and activities on a daily basis. He assured the community people that the construction of the Cobema road is part of the roads project that will soon be implemented in the Kenema district.

As it stands now, there will be a need for more land to ensure that sports and recreational facilities are available at the new school. To this, the Town Chief of Kenema City, Chief Momodu Ngambulango, assured the delegation that the land-owning families are ready to give more land as long as it is in the interest of developing the community and building the future of the girl child.

When completed, the school will be handed over to the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School (MBSSE) and will serve not only the Eastern region but the whole country, and is expected to produce the next generation of the country’s doctors, nurses, engineers, pharmacist, pilots, etc