January 20, 2016 By Mohamed Massaquoi
Members of the Kenema Islamic Secondary School Old Students Association (KISSOSA) Saturday, 9 January commissioned the newly refurbished school following rehabilitation work on dilapidated structures.
The event brought together past and current students, the school’s administration, members of the Islamic Mission, parents and friends of a school that has produced eminent Sierra Leoneans who are contributing greatly towards the development of the country in various fields of human endeavours.
While addressing the gathering, guest speaker Yusuf Bob Foday said the school’s alumni had organised with a purpose to improve facilities and help unite old students, the mission and administration so that they could collectively work in the interest of the school.
“Since we wanted to see how we can give back to the school we agreed that we should have firsthand information on some of the challenges facing the school and other stakeholders. In that regard, it was agreed that a three-man fact finding mission be fielded in to have audience with all of these people.
“The objective was for them to talk to all stakeholders, including the old students, teachers, parent body, school administration, Board members, and the mission, with the view of understanding their grievances, if any, and to embark on a conducted tour of the school’s facilities,” he said, adding that they had noticed that the school had degenerated in standards, thus the reason they tasked themselves to help rehabilitate it.
“To be honest, what we saw was discouraging. As a peace dividend, we all agreed to have the refurbishment of the three classroom blocks before the re-opening of schools. It was then decided that two BOQs be prepared separately, one by the school administration and another by the KISSOSA parent body. Those BOQs were received later and the group agreed to adopt the BOQ prepared by KISSOSA, which put the total cost of estimates for the rehabilitation of the three blocks to Le91 million,” he revealed. “It was decided in that meeting that the project should be fully funded by the old students. A pledging session was launched and pledging started immediately.”
He said further that: “The project commenced on 1 December, 2015 and ended on 3 January, 2016. I would like at this juncture to recognise the efforts of all who made this venture a success. In particular, I want to recognise the support I got from the core team on the ground – Comrades Mohamed Swaray, Smart Kokofele, Dr. Mohamed Bawoh and others.”
He added: “Following the successful rehabilitation of the existing old school structures, we would like to continue this partnership with the school administration to address other concerns in the very near future. However, we would like to share the following concerns with you, which we believe will enhance the quality of teaching and learning, school discipline and subsequently help restore the school’s old glory as a premier institution of learning, particularly in the eastern province.”