The NAO visits ongoing rehabilitation/renovation and upgrading of 100 targeted junior secondary schools in rural areas in four districts (Bo, Bombali, Kenema and Port Loko).

The essence of the visit was to capture and document the work being carried out by the various contractors in 49 chiefdoms in the four districts that has to do with the construction of 19 new school buildings, rehabilitation of 155 school buildings, 78 hand-dug wells, construction of nine staff quarters, installation of 50 solar units and construction/rehabilitation of 282 toilets for both teachers and pupils that will be developed into a documentary story.

The documentary will capture the current status of these schools and document its progress, to help compare before and after the intervention of the project. It will also include community interviews to capture their appreciation and challenges faced before the intervention of the EU and Government of Sierra Leone to help the public and other stakeholders understand the work that is being done and why, so they can fully appreciate the importance and benefit of the EU’s support to the education sector in Sierra Leone.

The story of the 100 Schools Rehabilitation Programme will be told primarily through the voices of those most impacted like pupils, parents, school authorities with particular attention to girls and physically pupils.

The project is targeting 25 schools per district as part of the European Union support to the education sector in Sierra Leone that will have to benefit 35,000 pupils in four regions of the country.

Human capital development, especially the provision of free quality education for all, constitutes the main goal of the Government of Sierra Leone as the country’s Medium-term National Development Plan (MTNDP) 2019–2023. A key target of the MTNDP is to improve the basic and senior secondary learning environment at all levels above the 2018 rates by 2023.

The EU in Sierra Leone is supporting the achievement of this target through its Support to the Education Sector in Sierra Leone.

Despite the COVID outbreak, contractors continue to deliver on their contractual commitment. The project is not only boosting education but also creating jobs and skills transfer to local workers and boosting economy of local businesses in the respective communities

These contracts were awarded by the NAO in December 2019 and has since been guiding contractors about the nitty-gritty of EU contract procedures so both the EU and the Government of Sierra Leone can have the required value of the project