By Sulaiman Jalloh
PattiBell Secondary School, located at Kamasakie, Biriwa Limba Chiefdom, Bombali District, Northern Sierra Leone, on Sunday, March 2, 2025, burned to ashes, leaving students stranded with no means to access education.
In a telephone interview with Mohammed Bakarr Jalloh, the counsellor of Biriwa Limba Chiefdom, confirmed the incident, saying the incident occurred around 7 to 8 in the morning, adding nothing was recovered, including books at the school’s library. He said the course of the fire incident is yet to be known, emphasizing the impact it will create on the part of the students, especially those in public examination classes (BECE and WASSCE). “The school vicinity is very clean” he stated while confirming that no causality was reported.
According to him, as a counsellor, he had reported the matter to the Bombali district council. “When I heard about the incident, I left Makeni to go and see what exactly happened. I took some videos and forwarded them to the council” he remarked.
Chancellor Jalloh expressed deep concern about the effectiveness of learning for students attending the school during these challenging times, noting PattiBell Secondary School is the only secondary school in the chiefdom something he said would affect the free quality education in that part of the country. He, however, called on the government to intervene to resuscitate the school.
Zainab O Sesay (Madam Barrie), the Junior principal of the school, also confirmed the incident, saying everything in the school got burned, including school documents. She said there are about three hundred and fifty students (350) in the Junior Secondary school.
Sesay said the school had solar panels that have been supplying lights at the office. The principal emphasized that the students were expected to start their mock final exams, but with the first incident, everything was put on hold. She called on the government, Non-governmental Organizations, and good Samaritans to come to their aid and help the students go back to school.
