David Moinina Sengeh

David Moinina Sengeh is a Sierra Leonean inventor, biomedical engineer and politician who has served as the chief minister of Sierra Leone after being appointed by President Julius Maada Bio in 2023. He previously served as the minister of basic and senior secondary education and chief innovation officer for the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation. He is a TED Senior Fellow. Quotes "Over the past two centuries, education witnessed a global expansion through improved literacy, enhanced primary enrollment, and increased participation rates in secondary education. These global gains are now threatened amidst COVID-19. In February 2021, schools were shut for 1.6 billion learners worldwide and more than 60 million teachers confined to their homes. The world’s ability to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education – is at risk." Even before the COVID pandemic, there was global consensus that education systems were not delivering quality education needed to ensure necessary skills for children, estimating that 90 percent of children in low-income countries fail to master the basic secondary-level skills needed to thrive in work and life and one in six children in poor countries fail to have skills in math and language. Already 1 in 3 adolescent girls from the poorest households around the world have never set foot in a classroom. Some 53 percent of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read proficiently by age 10 and in the poorest countries (especially in sub Saharan Africa), fewer than 1 in 5 primary students are proficient in math and reading. Digital learning has the potential to promote equity, expand access, improve learner’s engagement, and enhance teaching. But this potential is not being fulfilled and the resulting learning loss and increased dropout rates mean this generation of students stand to lose an estimated $10 trillion in earnings, or almost 10 percent of global GDP, while “learning poverty” could increase by 10 percentage points to 63 percent[6]. The impact on sub-Saharan Africa is grave, with many countries already, pre-COVID, having more than half of children of primary school age out of school, and the highest rate of out-of-school adolescents (37 percent[7]). In addition, for every 100 boys of primary school age out of school, there are 123 girls denied the right to education. Every child, no matter their background or ability, has the right to a quality education. This right is made clear in Articles 28 and 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Sierra Leone is a proud signatory to the Convention, underpinning our commitment to education in our 1991 Constitution. We understand that education is not a gift to be given to those whose circumstances allow for it; it is the right of all who are part of and who will contribute to our global society. And under the leadership of H.E President Bio, I take my responsibility as a duty-bearer of this right seriously. While legislation is clear, the reality is less so. I have seen this in my own country, where poverty, gender, and disability all act as barriers to education. But these challenges to access and quality education must be seen as calls to action, not as paralysers of progress. We require a global recommitment to the promises we have made to our children. We need a commitment to radical inclusion so we can reach every child with their right to education. Article 29 of the UNCRC sets out the purposes of education – not only to develop children’s mental and physical abilities, but also their respect for human rights, cultural identity, values, and the environment, preparing young people for life in a free society. This should be the touchstone for any vision of education. Children must have the opportunity to learn the skills to be active citizens in our global community – digital skills, critical thinking, creativity, interpersonal skills, respect, and social and emotional skills. Children cannot learn if they are hungry, and we know that poor nutrition among mothers and in children during the first 1000 days from conception can lead to irreversible damage to a child’s chances in life, to their success in learning and hence to their future livelihoods and those of their families, communities, societies and national economies. The 2021 World Food Systems Summit, and the Nutrition for Growth Summit (in Japan in December), follow on from the first N4G hosted by the UK in 2013 where vital pledges were made to tackle malnutrition. The Lancet has estimated that there could be 6·7 million more children with wasting in 2020 compared with projections without COVID-19. Educational outcomes suffer when malnutrition rises, yet education is also an essential component of the solution to future food security as we seek to build a global society in which no child goes to bed hungry, in which we have the skills to tackle future pandemics and crises, and in which every family can prosper. This is why we have recently started implementing our integrated home-grown school feeding policy in Sierra Leone. External links Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:Engineers from Sierra Leone Category:Politicians from Sierra Leone Category:Inventors Category:Government ministers Category:Authors from Sierra Leone