BACKGROUND
It is almost five years today since this campus gained accreditation from the relevant national regulatory authorities to commence the training of Sierra Leoneans to pursue the State Registered Nursing Programme and be qualified by the Sierra Leone Nurses’ and Midwives Board after successfully passing their State Qualifying Examinations in five (5) Theoretical and two (2) Clinical areas. We must recognize the people of Spain, through the bank called “La Caixa Bank”, whose Foundation manager is present here with us today, Mme Christina.
In February 2022, the school became a new campus of the University of Makeni. The campus now hosts the following departments:
- The Department of clinical psychology
- Public health department
- SRN Department
Today we have trained 88 nurses. Currently, the first two sets of 47 nurses are scattered all over the country and are engaged by the MoHS, other partners, and the St. John of God Catholic Hospital. This was the goal of the project.
We are here this morning, madam Chairperson, to recognize another cohort of students who have rigidly passed through the rigorous training schedule of the program as established by the regulatory body that supervises all training of Nurses in this country and have satisfied the academic requirement in the area of Knowledge, Attitude, and Skills so as to qualify them as State Registered Nurses. On behalf of all the Academic Staff, the school has the distinguished honor to declare them fit and competent enough to ensure the public safety of all citizens of this country as well as other citizens.
Since September 2020, this campus has undertaken a lot of activities that have fostered the spirit of academia.
The 2019/2020 academic year report.
we undertook the challenge to prepare the St. John of God Catholic of Nursing to become a Campus of the University of Makeni. We started this process at different levels in 2019. Finally, on 27th January 2022, the Tertiary Education Commission granted the University of Makeni the to extend the Campus to the then St. John of God Catholic School of Nursing.
On February 19, 2022, the University of Makeni launched its new campus here at the St. John of God Catholic School of Nursing which transformed the school into a new campus with the new name “St. John of God Campus, University of Makeni”. This has given a great opportunity for our students to enjoy all rights of the University of Makeni but at the same time increasing the standard of education opening the window for higher learning in Nursing Education. The University has appointed me as the provost of the campus effective 19th February 2022.
The University of Makeni has as a motor “Building a Civilization of Love’. As a campus, It is our dream to contribute to the improvement of quality health services by producing trained and professionally competent Health professionals for all healthcare facilities in the country. The motto of this campus is “Before you learn to care, you must care to learn”.
Our Strategic Vision
Our strategic plan which expires in August 2022, has four strategic thematic areas( Students, Staff, Policies, and Financial Resources). Our strategies were in line with the plan of the MoHS and the SLNMB.
In the area of students, we strategized to improve the standards of training meets all the standards set by the regulatory body, placing our students at the center of the learning process, develop post basic nursing training curricula in various nursing discipline specifically BSc Nursing, strengthening the Students Unionism, and ensuring the health, safety, and security of our students.
In the area of Staff, we strategized to upgrade our current staff, recruit additional and retain staff, and offer contracts and Job descriptions to all staff.
In the area of Policies, we strategized to review the students’ handbook, develop the staff handbook, and progress with the affiliation with the University of Makeni.
In the area of financial resources, we strategized to walk towards financial sustainability, sustaining donors’ confidence, and improving our infrastructures.
ACHIEVEMENTS
During the period of September 2020-August 2021, together with the staff and students and in close collaboration with our solid partners both locally and abroad, we made quite a lot of progress in accordance with our plans for this period.
As a campus, we continue to pursue the standards of training our students through the life span of the academic program set for the different levels.
In October 2021, 52 student nurses were enrolled for the 2021-2024 period of training. The campus has the capacity to accommodate 300 students. Currently, there are 162 continuing students enrolled since 2020 distributed as follows:
- Year 1(Set 6)- 54
- Year 2(Set 5)- 57
- Year 3(Set 4)– 51 S
Of this, only 16% are males and 84% are females.
State Registered Nursing (SRN) ENROLMENT
YEAR OF ENROLLMENT | SET | NUMBER ENROLLED | MALE | FEMALE | NUMBER GRADUATED |
2016-2019 | 1 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 12 |
2017-2020 | 2 | 49 | 8 | 41 | 35 |
2018-2021 | 3 | 43 | 4 | 39 | 41 |
2019-2022 | 4 | 67 | 8 | 59 | 0 |
2020-2023 | 5 | 48 | 7 | 41 | 0 |
2021-2024 | 6 | 52 | 1 | 51 | 0 |
|
| 279 | 31 | 248 | 88 |
The school administration has worked assiduously to deliver the curriculum well to our students which has enabled them at their different levels to achieve their academic objectives. I am grateful to all the academic, administrative and support staff for their cooperation in ensuring that we completed the 2020/2021 academic year well.
During this year , 41 candidates were presented to the State Board Exams and we had a pass rate of 100% in all the examined areas which included Medical Nursing, Surgical Nursing, Public Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing and Pediatric Nursing. These students had also satisfied all the training requirement needed of them during their training.
51 Students nurses are on their Obstetric nursing and midwifery Affiliation at the School of Midwifery in Makeni.
STAFFING
During the period 2020/2021 academic year, we are able to achieve our set academic objectives with 11 academic, 8 administrative and support staff.
The Ministry of Health & Sanitation has seconded at the moment only 1 tutor and 1 Preceptor attached to the school. The rest are employed and paid by the school. All employed staff have been given their contracts and Job descriptions.
Sincere gratitude to each of these staff present here:
Academic Full time: Mr. Gibril S. Conteh, Mr. Mohamed S. Kamara, Mr. Foday Kanu, Br. Francis Kabia, Mr. Mustapha Kamara, Mme Adama K. Bangura,
Administrative Full time: Mme Millicent Bangura, Mr. Usman Thoronka, Mme Alice Gbla,
Support Full time: Mr. Santigie Sankoh, Mr. Ibrahim S. Kamara, Mr. Patrick S. Bangura, Mrs. Mariatu Bangura, Mme. Ernestine R. Koroma
Academic part time: Mr. Bassaijor Bailor, Mr. James Koroma, Mr. Michael Dumbuya, Br. (Dr.) Patrick Bung, Br. Nestor Banboye,
During this year, two of our staff are currently upgrading themselves with funds provided by the school and our partners. one is pursuing a BSc in Nursing and the other a BSc in Education Administration.
Amongst those who are no more with us, I must extend our gratitude to them for their role in preparing these students whom we see here today specifically Mr. Usman Thoronka, and Mme Alice Gbla
It is our dream that the MoHS will consider again to second additional nurse educators to our school. As you can see, with the few staff, how wonderful is the school to be able to attain a 100% pass rate at a national examination.
We must be grateful to the parents and guardians of these students and more especially to our great philanthropists and good will benefactors who have supported these students to be able to meet their financial obligations in the school and personal welfare.
During the course of the year, additional 36 Scholarships were awarded to needy students.
28 of these graduating students today were 100% sponsored by hospital broeders from the people of holland. I must say that without the hard work of Hospitaal broeders from the Netherlands whose fund raiser is present here with us, Mr. David Heyer, whilst 7 of them were sponsored by Africa Viva Foundation from Spain, whose Executive Director is also present here, Dr. Victoria Fumadoz Perez. This gives about 85% of the graduands were provided with scholarship for a duration of three (3) years. I wonder what would have been the fate of these young ladies and gentlemen. The school administration continues to foster a very conducive learning environment for all.
Struggled to maintain the renewable energy supply which is key to the running of the school. In all of the classrooms, we have provided teaching aids which included whiteboards, markers, and projectors. We are grateful to Bread for the World, from Germany, who has invested so many resources in seconding staff to the school and providing support to improve the quality of teaching and administration. We anticipate that our friends and new friends will come on board to address the needs of the campus.
As a campus, we are still struggling with resource mobilization to invest in infrastructure. Currently, there are only 4 classroom blocks which are now insufficient to accommodate extra students in any new programs ahead. The students will need better accommodation where they could have the minimum privacy. Up till now, we have not been able to construct hostels for Males. There is an urgent need for water bore hole for the campus which will be able to provide at least 1.4 cc water per hour. There is the need to improve our skills laboratory for a better outcome in our training. There are a lot of challenges at the clinical sites in this country so as a training Institution, we believe that if our students have access to visualize simulative demonstrations, there will be an increase performance of our students at clinical placement. Please come to our aid.
The campus has been running under a recovery package. However, as we continue to pursue the dream of excellence, academic fees will change in order to meet the requirement of academic standards. We shall continue to solicit support from our various partners in order to reimburse the Bursary purse with scholarship donations so as to be able to help very intelligent and needy students.
POLICIES
In line with the plan during the period, today I am very proud to announce that this School which everybody used to know as St. John of God Catholic School of Nursing has now been upgraded into a Campus named ” St. John of God Campus, University of Makeni. Now we have an opportunity to train higher cadres of Nurses as well as bring new programs, especially post-basic specialties which will respond to the needs of the health Labour market.
We have reviewed the student handbook; what is left now is to adapt it to the University of Makeni-approved regulations.
FUTURE PLANS
Looking towards the future, we must walk towards strengthening our capacity to meet the expectations of the University of Makeni as a campus. In this regard, we are searching for sponsors to support our young staff to pursue Masters’ in Nursing or other nursing-related areas, and a Doctor in Philosophy in Nursing or Nursing-related areas.
University education is expensive and as such a lot of females will be exposed to dropping out. We will continue to advocate with our good friends to continue raising funds despite the difficult situation abroad in order to empower young ladies to acquire higher education for the sake of improving human capital development in Sierra Leone.
The campus needs to be upgraded and as such there should be a much better administrative Building which will accommodate all the future faculty at the different levels. Seriously, if we do not increase the staffing accommodation facility, there is the risk of not retaining quality staff in this campus. One may ask why the need for that here whilst in other towns they provide themselves. Yes, it is true but Lunsar is a rural town and only those who are interested to stay here would do that but on condition better conditions are available. one key condition is accommodation.
Lastly, we would continue to make appeals to local and international good will personalities and Organizations to consider assisting the campus in constructing the fence. As at now, the campus assets are exposed in a 7 hectare piece of Land.
To conclude, let me acknowledge personalities, Organizations and Institutions who have enormously supported this campus during the period 2020/2021 academic year.
Acknowledgement
The Campus acknowledged the following:
- The Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery, MoHS
- The District Medical Officer of Port Loko DHMT
- The Chiefdom Authorities
- The Students and staff of Campus Doscent University College of Nursing, Barcelona, Spain, especially the three present here with us.
- Africa Viva Foundation, Spain.
- La Caixa Bank, from Spain.
- Western European Province and the St. John of God Development Company, Ireland and Hospitaalbroeders, Netherlands
- The Provincial Superior, St. Augustine Province of Africa, Accra(Ghana)
- Juan Ciudad Fundacion, Madrid, Spain.
- The administration and Staff of the St. John of God Catholic Hospital, Lunsar
- The staff of the St. John of God Catholic School of Nursing, Lunsar.
- The Staff of our clinical placement sites(Connaught, Holy spirit , Makeni Government, , Kissy mental and PCM hospitals) and our affiliation School of midwifery in Makeni.
- The Sierra Leone Nurses and Midwives Board for Sierra Leone
- The St. John of God Brothers’ Community of Sierra Leone.
- EKI Foundation, Spain
- Tertiary Education Commission
