Photo: Assembly Group West Africa, Freetown
Sierra Leone: Brothers of Edmund Rice
The Christian Brothers first went to West Africa in the late 1960s. In 1967 Pope Paul VI wrote the encylical, Populorum Progress, which called the whole Church to a new awareness and understanding of social justice. St. Mary's Province, England, responded by sending Brothers to Liberia in West Africa. There they established schools and within a relatively short time, a training centre for new indigenous Brothers. President Tubman still reigned as a benign and reasonably enlightened ruler until his death in 1971. Following his death, tribal tensions, long suppressed, broke out and led to the devastating on-going wars that ruined a nation that had made significant progress in the 1950s. Many refugees fled to Sierra Leone during the Liberian Wars.
Following the refugees, the Christian Brothers shifted their focus to Sierra Leone. But war was to follow them. For almost the last twenty years, Sierra Leone has known nothing but the horror of low-intensity warfare, the ravages of civil war and the despoliation of massive corruption, all fueled by Western greed for control of the Sierra Leonian diamond industry.
After and during the war, the Christian Brothers and the Edmund Rice community in Sierra Leone were not found wanting when it came to rebuilding and reconciliation. They have been to the forefront in providing child soldiers with education and rehabilitation. Working with UNICEF, the Brothers and Edmund Rice workers have contributed significantly to the peacemaking and development process.
Now that Liberia has entered a new period of stability, people in that region can begin to look forward to peace and the possibility of living in justice, solidarity and prosperity with their neighbours.
Katerina Tomasevski, the UN Special Rapporteur on Education, has written a particularly incisive report on the role of education in unwittingly establishing the conditions for the massive drift of young people into the ranks of the various militias during the war. When the young have no hope of employment, of a better future, of access to opportunity, then they become cannon fodder for the warlords.
Sierra Leone is a textbook case of how the denial of the right to education can lead to the horrendous situation of mutilated lives once the chaos of a failed state takes hold.
Edmund Rice International in Sierra Leone
Photo: Victor Kamara and Kevin Cawley in Bo
Brother Kevin Caweley from the Edmund Rice North American Province is currently in Sierra Leone working with the West African Leadership team. His experience at the United Nations and his knowledge of the human rights system have equipped him well for this first exploratory visit to Sierra Leone. He will be providing some workshops for Brothers and co-workers while he is in Sierra Leone.
Promoting social and human rights is a key aspect of development for Africa. Nowwhere has the absence of respect for human rights been more apparent than in Siera Leone. Ensuring that all aspects of education are thoroughly imbued with a social justice and human rights perspective is an essential dimension of reconstruction and rehabiliation for Sierra Leone. Peacemaking and the work of justice go hand in hand.
Uganda Expands Free Education Provision
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Uganda has begun implementing a free universal secondary education (USE) programme in 700 public and 280 private schools in the first phase of a scheme aimed at making education accessible to all, officials said on Monday.
Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire said her ministry had released 7.3 billion Ugandan shillings (US $4.2 million) for public and private schools included in the programme.
"The ministry is in the final stages of releasing seven million shillings ($3,888) to each of the schools that are going to participate in USE," she said adding that rigorous accountability would be enforced to ensure the money was used correctly.
She said that because of budgetary constraints, vocational and technical training institutions have been excluded from the initial stage of the programme.
"Vocational and technical training will be incorporated in the system as funds become available," she explained.
Since 1997, Uganda has offered free education in all public primary schools. "Ours is a pro-poor intervention. Those who want to can still take their children to the so-called powerful schools that are [charging] a lot of money," said Bitamazire.
Only students who sat the Primary Leaving Examination in 2006 will be eligible. Boarding costs are not covered under the programme and parents were expected to pay for medical care.