Hidden inequities within universalising primary education in rural Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT

Despite great progress, attaining the goal of universal primary education (UPE) has stalled, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This study critically examines how UPE is experienced by out-of-school children and families in three rural villages in Sierra Leone. Drawing on data from 101 qualitative interviews, this study applies relational inequality theory to illustrate a benefit of education that is often underemphasised in UPE discourse – that of maintaining human dignity and relational power. Through the widespread cultural acceptance of exploitative teacher stipends, the formation of new lines of social closure, and the inability of out-of-school children and their families to make claims for respect, I argue that out-of-school children are being excluded from a pathway to basic dignity – an effect that can be mitigated by a renewed commitment to delivering on the de jure promise of free access to education through universal teacher remuneration.

KEYWORDS:

• Out-of-school children
• sub-Saharan Africa
• rural education
• universal primary education

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and suggestions which helped to strengthen this manuscript. I am grateful to Katherine Chen and Dustin Avent-Holt for their early feedback on applying Relational Inequality Theory to this project. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Sierra Leoneans and Friends of SL who made data collection for this project possible: Earl Welker, John and Barbara Wolfer, Ruth and Abdul Kanu, Braima Moiwai, Gbewah and Mariama Moiwai, Frank Mbayo, Mudiama Kammoh, Peter Moray, Ralph Ansumana, Dr. Dupigny, Janet Tucker, Olive Musa, and the Paramount Chiefs of Kabaya, Nongoba Bullom, and Bunumbu.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I use the term exploitative here simply to align with RIT terminology. This should not be conflated with the literature on child exploitation and practices like child marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, child discipline, and child labour. It is also important to stress that exploitation is used to describe exploitative school fees, not to describe the act of individuals exploiting one another.

2. Chiefdoms are an administrative unit in Sierra Leone that is between the size of a village and a district.