Concord Times (Freetown)
Ben Samuel Turay
10 October 2008
Principal of Annie Walsh memorial secondary school on Kissy Road in Freetown yesterday expressed fear that overcrowding could pose serious threat to standards of education and quality of tuition in the school.
Amanda Johnson told Concord Times that "the school is overcrowded and there are now 50 pupils to a class, which I think is not improving the school's standards at all."
She said before now they only enrolled between 20 and 30 pupils in a class, adding that it was after the rebel war that the school started grappling with the problems of overcrowding.
"The number of pupils has increased and this is not an ideal environment for education.
I think this will not improve the standard of the school in any way," she said.
Johnson said she was also faced with the problem of new teachers the school recruited, seven of whom have not received their salaries since they took up job with the school. They have to be taken care of by the school authority.
"The school is overcrowded but I believe with the support of my teachers we will still do well," she said.
One of the students Aminata Kamara said overcrowding in her class could force some girls to quit the school.
"For pupils to seat in my class is a big problem," Kamara said.
In 1816, the Anglican Church Missionary Society opened a small private school for girls in the mountainside village of Charlotte in Sierra Leone with only eight students on the roll.
In 1865, the school was moved to its present location in Freetown on Kissy Road, and was formally named Annie Walsh Memorial School in 1878.
The school began with a vision to educate and train young African girls in pursuit of excellence in all areas, including high academic performance, sound discipline and a solid Christian foundation.
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