Child training in Sierra Leone: a description of education in relation to society

Abstract

The population of Sierra Leone consists of a detribalised Colony group which has imitated British standards of education and social life for over 150 years and a hetrogeneous Protectorate group which is strictly tribal and among which only about 4% of the children are receiving education of a Western type. Infiltration of Colony people into the Protectorate and Protectorate people into the Colony is now increasing rapidly and there are indications that certain less desirable tendencies of each group are being limited by the other. Children grow up in the Colony believing that their goal should be one of the professions and they feel frustrated when this proves impossible. The same attitude has claimed a large proportion of the educated Protectorate group who tend to desert their villages for clerkships in the city and to despise their illiterate relations. Primary school education of a 19th century Western type is provided for about 56% of the Colony children through the3 Amalgamated school system and secondary education is provided largely by the Missions. Of the few children who are in school in the Protectorate, most are in Mission schools, some are in Native Administration schools and a few in schools provided by the Central Government. The majority have only their tribal education which is given largely through secret societies. The areas where Western education is already established need a revolutionised school curriculum to meet the needs of the community; in the area where no Western education has yet been established it would be possible to develop a system which would avoid the serious effects of detribalisation on and at the same time enable the people to take their place in world society. In both cases the school should become a vital influence in the community and should stimulate social and economic progress.