5.5 The Case of Sierra Leone

A. Context
B. Factors
C. Recommendations

A. Context

a. General

Sierra Leone is one of the smaller West African republics, with an area of some 71,000 square kilometres. Independence was gained in 1961, and the country comprises a number of significantly contrasting environmental and cultural components.

There is a fundamental and considerable difference between the Freetown Peninsula, which includes the capital and primate city, and the rest of the country. Following the resettlement of freed Afro-Caribbean slaves from the New World on the peninsula and its environs, this part of the country not only benefited from the trading economy of the major port but also developed an educationally oriented culture served by a number of prestigious schools and colleges. This cluster of institutions once extended its influence throughout West Africa and beyond.

While the (Krio) culture of the peninsula is relatively homogeneous, urban and Christian based, the rural interior of the country has both Christian and Islamic dimensions and is multi-tribal and multi-lingual, though two major groups predominate, the Mende and the Temne, each with about 30 per cent of the total national population.

Economically, Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of about $US200 p.a. The majority of people are subsistence farmers, and at this basic level the land is generally supportive. There are significant mineral deposits, including diamonds, and the one major trading centre of Freetown, but the general economic profile of the country has been in decline for at least a decade. One of the results of this is the chronic underfunding of public education at all levels, but particularly in the primary sector where the high birth rate is causing increasing demand for places. At the same time there is an evident disenchantment with schooling on the part of some rural parents and communities which is shared by a significant number of primary teachers who remain unpaid for considerable periods of time and are forced to revert to their land for personal survival.

However, with a total population still only about 3 million and a modest overall density of 40 per square kilometre, survival on the land is still possible, but such a scenario does not encourage participation in school by either sex.

b. Education

The diagram below (T. N. Postlethwaite, 1988, p 593) shows the educational system in Sierra Leone. The survey was conducted with pupils in Primary 7.

Table 1 shows the relative enrolment of boys and girls as proportions of the school-age population at primary level. Enrolment is low for both sexes but lower for girls in all age-groups.

Table 1: Enrolment in Primary Schools in Relation to Number of Children of School-Going Age

Age	% Enrolment of Boys In Relation to Boys of School-going Age	% Enrolement of Girls in relation to Girls of School-going Age
5	36.7	28.0
6	47.1	33.4
7	48.1	32.2
8	42.0	28.6
9	39.4	25.7
5-9	42.6	29.6
10	35.2	24.1
11	31.7	20.8
12	27.1	16.3
13	20.6	11.1
14	12.4	4.5
10-14	25.7	15.6

(Source: J May-Parker (1986) from C. Davies et al. Final report on access to school - primary and secondary data 1977 - 1978, Government of Sierra Leone, nd.)

Secondary enrolment is lower for girls than for boys but also varies according to province. Tables 2 and 3 contrast the enrolment and retention of boys and girls in the Northern Province and the Western Area (which includes Freetown), and illustrate the extremes of the regional differences.

Table 2: School Enrolment by Class and Sex: NORTHERN PROVINCE

FORMS	MALES		FEMALES		TOTAL
	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE
1	2,251	30.6	980	38.1	3,231	32.6
2	1,715	23.3	595	23.1	2,310	23.3
3	1,519	20.7	551	21.4	2,070	20.9
4	1,119	15.2	294	11.4	1,413	14.2
5	668	9.1	147	5.7	815	8.2
Lower 6	48	0.7	3	0.1	51	0.5
Upper 6	27	0.4	3	0.1	30	0.3
TOTAL	7,347	100.0	2,573	100.0	9,920	100.0

Table 3: School Enrolment by Class and Sex: WESTERN AREA

FORMS	MALES		FEMALES		TOTAL
	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE	NUMBER
1	3,334	27.9	2,671	30.0	6,005
2	2,719	22.7	2,099	24.2	4,810
3	2,345	19.6	1,585	18.3	3,930
4	2,009	16.7	1,255	14.5	3,264
5	1,225	10.7	895	10.3	2,120
Lower 6	179	1.5	100	1.2	279
Upper 6	113	0.9	57	0.7	170
TOTAL	11,924	100.0	8,662	100.0	20,586

(Source: C Davies et al., ibid p 61-62)

c. Primary Perceptions

The survey in Sierra Leone was carried out in Primary 7 classes in Freetown, in a small town in the north and in relatively remote villages in the north-east and southeast of the country. The ages of pupils ranged from 10-15 but the majority of older pupils were in schools outside Freetown. Altogether 140 girls and boys were included in the survey in roughly equal numbers.

In rural areas both boys and girls were equally and very much involved in helping with agricultural work and in such tasks as fetching water. In both rural and urban areas both sexes were concerned with caring for siblings. It was by no means a task only for girls. Cooking was also done by both sexes but to a lesser degree in the north where it is traditionally the female who prepares food. Both boys and girls were involved in sweeping and shopping. Village children agreed 100 per cent that girls help more at home than boys, but there was less consensus in the north (85 per cent) and Freetown (83 per cent). Outside Freetown a staggering 86 per cent of children agreed that they sometimes could not come to school because they had to help their mother or their father; even in Freetown however 52 per cent were in the same position. There was no significant difference between the sexes in this and 37 per cent found it difficult to get to school every day.

Pupils were largely in agreement that boys stay on longer at school than girls and even more agreed in the villages. Outside Freetown 35 per cent thought that girls did not need to go to school as much as boys. The attitudes in the north of the country were more negative even than in the villages, in fact 77 per cent of pupils there agreed that "Girls don't really need to go to school". This was by far the most negative reaction to girls' schooling in the whole survey and was not statistically significant by sex - the majority of the girls agreed with the boys! Parental attitudes to their sons' and daughters' schooling seemed highly supportive, judging by the answers to items 5 and 10 ("My mother/my father wants me to come to school very much") and there was no sign of sex discrimination in the results for this question.

The pupils' responses to the questions on their parents' skills in reading and writing indicate much lower literacy levels for mothers than for fathers in the villages, the small northern town and in Freetown itself. The rural and northern figures for women (17 per cent and 52 per cent respectively) are the lowest in the whole survey, whilst those for Freetown, though lower than those for men, are a respectable 80 per cent. The children's perceptions of their fathers' reading and writing skills follow a similar pattern at a higher level: rural 59 per cent, northern urban 85 per cent and Freetown 87 per cent. Outside Freetown the gap between male and female literacy is a serious one: the children's responses confirm the statistics.

Pupils in Sierra Leone are extremely conscious of the costs of education: 89 per cent agreed that "it costs a lot to go to school", and this was the highest figure in the survey. In Freetown pupils are very concerned about distance 87 per cent wished school were nearer to their homes and this would appear to be related to the lack of zoning and the poor transport system in the city. However, most of the children in all regions wanted to continue school next year.

The children's families were large and comparable in size with those in Cameroon and Vanuatu: (1-3 children: 15.6 per cent; 4-6 children: 40.7 per cent; 7-9 children: 30.7 per cent and more than 10:12.8 per cent). Whatever their intentions as regards marriage and having children themselves (this group was not specifically asked about this) their career choices seem to be, as elsewhere, far more varied and ambitious in the case of the boys. In rural areas, choices seem to be dictated for both sexes by the limited number of role models available- boys think they would like to be a doctor or a missionary, girls write down "nurse". At the moment very few rural girls complete primary school and for those who do, the nearest secondary school may be a long way off. Not many will have the chance to become a nurse.

The answers below are those of Yama who is twelve and lives in a small town in the north. Her father is a teacher, her mother a housewife and she is the middle child in the family of three girls and two boys. She fetches water, sweeps and looks after her little brother and sister every day. Her teacher considers she is average in ability.

Say whether you AGREE or DISAGREE with these sentences:

	AGREE (Yes!)
	DISAGREE (No!)
1. Girls help at home more than boys		Ö	x
2. Boys usually stay at school for more years than girls		Ö	x
3. Girls need to go to school as much as boys		Ö	x
4. Girls are usually younger than boys when they stop going to school		Ö	x
5. My mother wants me to come to school very much		Ö	x
6. Girls don't really need to go to school		Ö	x
7. Sometimes I can't come to school because there are jobs I must do for my mother or my father		Ö	x
8. It costs a lot of money to go to school		Ö	x
9. I wish school was nearer to my house		Ö	x
10. My father wants me to come to school very much		Ö	x
11. I think my mother is good at reading and writing		Ö	x
12. I think my father is good at reading and writing		Ö	x
13. I think I shall be leaving school at the end of this year		Ö	x
14. I would like to go to school next year		Ö	x
15. It is difficult to come to school every day		Ö	x
16. I would like to go to secondary school		Ö	x
17. I like school		Ö	x

WHEN I GROW UP

When I grow up, the work I'd like to do is nurse .

B. Factors

i. Geographical

Sierra Leone shares with other West African states, and of course the Cameroons, a Christian/Islamic dichotomy. The Christian dimension is further divided between the Freetown Peninsula and the remainder. The Freetown Peninsula contains not only the primate city and capital, but also the distinctive Krio culture of the descendants of freed slaves from the Caribbean. The contrast between the capital and the rest of the country is even greater than in most developing states, and this includes education.

In the Western Province the position of women is far better than elsewhere in Sierra Leone, whereas to be both female and provincial leads to underprivilege. The further inland along the few roads of any note, the more remote and isolated each settlement becomes. Urban/rural dichotomy may be best described in terms of Freetown/Province dichotomy, so dominant is the primate city among the towns of Sierra Leone. Most educated working women are in Western Province. Northern Province is particularly low in the provision of post-primary education and in the proportion of the female population who are gainfully employed.

Rural/urban contrasts are sharp in secondary education enrolments and in literacy rates. Indeed the rural parents in our survey had the poorest literacy rate in the entire project. Distance from school can be quite considerable and deter attendance at primary level in the rural regions, but for different reasons, getting to school across Freetown can also be very difficult. Secondary pupils are likely to have even longer distances, and both public and private transport are extremely poor. Parents are particularly concerned about their daughters having to travel long and insecure journeys to school.

ii. Socio-Cultural

Factors in this range are central to the poor profile of female participation in education in Sierra Leone. The traditional role of women as housekeeper, mother and community member remains strong. Outside of Freetown, men are willing for their women to have employment initiatives but only if they are based at home. Traditional forms of tribal education continue, with the Bondo bush schools fulfilling certain traditional roles. By contrast the curriculum of the rural primary school appears, and of course is, of little relevance to the realities of everyday life in rural Sierra Leone. So while the participation rates of rural girls are very low, those of boys are not much better.

The low status of women is particularly noticeable in Northern Province, mainly for reasons of custom rather than religion, though Islam tends to be held responsible. In fact some significant educational initiatives for girls in Sierra Leone have been generated by Islamic communities and professionals.

In the provinces and rural areas there is an obligation for a 'mature' girl to marry. Early marriage and pregnancy are still major reasons for drop-out or non-enrolment. Several of the parents surveyed indicated quite independently the fact that many girls were precocious (in the sexual sense) and it is evident that the high rate of sexual relationships from an early age is a cultural element across gender.

Male domination attitudes run deep and are early acquired. For example, considerable proportions of boys in the rural primary schools visited did not consider it necessary for girls to go to school at all. The figure reached 77% in Makeni which is way ahead of anything else in the survey. On other surveys, the 'negative attitudes of fathers' figures strongly, and 'lack of encouragement from parents' is also sadly a frequent comment.

iii. Health

Surprisingly rarely mentioned in interviews, this factor is clearly an important one. Early marriage, and especially pregnancy, can have adverse effects on the physical development of girls. The massive rate of sexual activity inevitably introduces related medical problems including now AIDS, and so the International Planned Parenthood Federation has a major project running in Sierra Leone. Part of the problem according to the project director, may be ascribed, albeit indirectly, to education in that in order to reach a secondary school some girls and boys will have to live away from home and so such sanctions as have existed are inoperative. Even routine health practices learned informally in the community are forgotten. Under-nourishment, though not famine, is widespread in Sierra Leone, and when combined with physical hardship and long journeys to school, it takes its toll. Inevitably levels of concentration are reduced.

iv. Economic

Poverty is by far the largest cause of low levels of female participation as perceived by virtually every set of respondents, teachers, students, parents and professional educators. It operates both directly and indirectly. The hidden costs would include the usefulness of the pupil at home and on the land, but the real costs are quite significant too. Primary school pupils are well aware of this and wish to try to succeed in order to make money later for themselves and their own families. Children of both sexes may be found in Freetown engaging in petty trading during school hours.

Girls may obtain money from boy friends and sometimes from "sugar daddies" - older men who will fund their education or other interests in return for a relationship. There is a danger that this may well lead to an early pregnancy. The age at which this tends to happen corresponds roughly with the onset of the academic secondary school programmes/options leading to public examinations. This is an expensive stage, requiring the recommended course texts and other costly items. It is particularly disappointing for girls who have worked hard to reach this point to have to drop out, and the support of an older man can resolve the problem.

Large family sizes are both benefit and burden, but in this context, rather the latter, being in the range of 5-10 children in the majority of cases at the schools visited. Inevitably fees cannot be raised for as many children as this, and if anyone is going to be supported, it will be a boy. Even if they do get to a school, most will also have to work hard at home or on the land. Such activities as looking after siblings, fetching water, sweeping the compound and going to market are vital to the survival of the family. So a family's opportunity costs, as well as actual costs will be considerable if one or more of their children goes to school.

Most educated women are from elite backgrounds. There are some employment opportunities for women in Freetown but hardly any in the provinces. Even in Freetown due to economic constraint, men are coming into competition with women for jobs normally occupied by females, such as typing, nursing and primary school teaching.

It is difficult to desegregate economic from socio-cultural factors. For example, the Fula, once a remote minority in the north, are now a major entrepreneurial force, using their increased wealth to educate both boys and girls. This is a modern parallel to the mercantile operations of the creoles in the nineteenth century who used their wealth to educate daughters as well as sons by establishing schools and encouraging their offspring to seek professional roles. The Fulas are now investing in real estate and property development in Freetown. Twenty-five years ago, the enrolment of Fula girls in school was rare, now it is increasingly strong.

v. Religious

The broad dichotomy between Christian and Islamic zones has been noted. Religion per se is not a direct factor according to most respondents, but it was strongly considered to be so by one particular group, the senior professionals interviewed in Sierra Leone. As elsewhere, it is custom rather than religion that tends to deprive girls of schooling in Muslim areas. In addition to the example of the Fulas mentioned above, there are other initiatives from within the Islamic communities affording opportunities to girls to acquire technical and vocational skills. The Christian denominations also have been a positive force for female education. Their institutions tend to be well organised and attract good staff who are generally committed to their task as they know they will be paid regularly.

vi. Legal

Not seen as a factor in the modern sense, though traditional custom is obviously a constraint on girls' education in many areas.

vii. Political/Administrative

Given the state of the economy, it is not possible for the political and administrative systems to serve the communities as the regulations provide. One telling example is that of the payment of teachers' salaries. It is not uncommon for these to be in arrears by several months. Consequently many teachers become demotivated or simply have to find other sources of income. In rural areas they may work on their land instead of coming to school. If rural schools are inadequately staffed as a result there is even less reason for parents to suffer loss of labour at home or on the land.

Even though the Government is faced with severe difficulties, questions were raised about the political will required to maintain the educational effort, and within that to try harder to meet the particular needs of girls. A Women's Bureau has been set up in the Ministry of Rural Development, but it has virtually no funding at all. As pointed out by a senior researcher at the University of Sierra Leone, the issues are complex and need to be addressed by cross-sectoral efforts. An example would be the Basic Education thrust where programmes for out-of-school girls, the non-formal education of adults and improved primary programmes were all components of an integrated exercise. However, in current circumstances it is difficult to envisage such a coordinated effort being effectively mounted.

Reference was made to the fact that the Sierra Leone Government did not sign the UN Convention on Women's Rights until 1988, and even then only after considerable pressure had been brought to bear. The appalling communications problem aids Government control in that there is little (and late) reporting of complaints or demonstrations. There are only very limited networks of communication, and no television, which leads to the further fragmentation of the mass of the population.

The politics of language in Sierra Leone obviously affects education as political affiliation tends to be regional. This is reflected in the selection of the four main community languages for the new curriculum, Krio, Mende, Limba and Timne.

viii. Education

Provision is theoretically equal, but in practice is not necessarily so; and girls do not take up such opportunities as there are, due to the various pressures already mentioned. The crumbling nature of the system, physically as well as administratively, clearly renders it unattractive. Many parents complained in their returns about the state of buildings. They also called for an effort in the area of technical and vocational education, since the experience gained in the present curriculum does not seem so functional in the light of occupational and income generation needs.

To summarise some of the problems particularly affecting girls:

there is low enrolment overall, not just girls but worse for them, and especially in the provinces;

the drop-out rate is high, again worse for girls and in the provinces;

the system of repeating classes means that more costs have to be borne by parents over a longer period of time; this makes girls older than they should be by the secondary stage when problems of pregnancy appear;

teachers' salaries remain unpaid for months and this creates demotivation and absenteeism;

the curriculum is not seen as relevant, while alternatives like technical and vocational approaches are unresourced.

ix. Initiatives

Among the initiatives noted were:

· The Women's Commission in Adult Education

· The Planned Parenthood Federation Programme

· The Bunumbu Curriculum Development Project - a six year basic education work orientated curriculum which includes skills for employment.

· PLAN International - a scheme providing financial help to cover fees, books and medical expenses to successful applicants from the Greater Freetown area. Currently there are about 1400 scholars, divided equally between the sexes.

· The Women's Bureau - Ministry of Rural Development.

· Njala University College scheme on The Participation of Women in Adult Literacy

· Peoples' Educational Association undertakes literacy work, for example the development of teaching/learning materials and the training of female literacy tutors

· MECAS/UNESCO Project on Women & Civic Education

C. Recommendations

Our major recommendations (not necessarily in order of priority) would be:

i. that NGOs be encouraged to develop (non-formal) primary education projects for both sexes but with some positive discrimination in favour of the participation of girls;

ii. that in situations of poverty and malnutrition, feeding schemes for primary and secondary pupils be considered for support;

iii. incentives for enrolment and retention (waiving of fees for girls);

iv. that encouragement should be given to efficient NGOs to promote schemes to effect the progression of girls from primary to secondary school;

v. investigate textbooks and materials for gender bias and develop appropriate materials;

vi. more and better secondary provision in rural areas and small towns; if possible single sex schools with secure boarding facilities, especially in the northern region;

vii. in the urban areas, primarily Freetown, the further funding and development of scholarships schemes for secondary girls;

viii. that initiatives be encouraged to develop technical and vocational education for both sexes especially, but not exclusively, as a 'second chance' for drop-outs from formal schooling;

ix. a family planning and returnees scheme for teenage mothers;

x. it would seem that some sort of health/sex education initiative is needed for adolescent Sierra Leonians, especially in the Freetown area, in order to combat the high rate of teenage pregnancies;

xi. a scheme to train more female teachers for rural locations;

xii. there is a need to improve the level of educational policy implementation at the local level. This would involve the training of personnel in systems of implementation and delivery. Their role in the implementation of policy would be a practical one of animation, advice and support rather than mere administration. The opportunity could be taken to train a significant number of women in this work;

xiii. that assistance be provided to enable the school day and the school year to be adjusted to the realities of rural life and the demands of rural economies on child labour;

xiv. the resolution of the transport problem in Freetown by zoning or developing an infrastructure;

xv. literacy and income-generating schemes for women;

xvi. that initiatives be coordinated with health, sanitation, water, income generating and other projects so that education is part of an integrated package;

xvii. that further assistance be considered for improving the standards of traditional agricultural practice especially where this will enhance the experience, status and income of females;

xviii. that, especially in rural communities, projects should be developed combining pre-school initiatives with income generation and basic literacy and numeracy skills for rural women;

xix. that aid be considered for credible women's movements with track records of support for aspects of education and training, both formal and non-formal;

xx. that efforts be supported to raise the level of male awareness of the community and family economic benefits likely to arise from increased participation of women and girls in educational and income generating activities.