Around the world we talk a good game about the importance of education, but we rarely act as if we mean it. Here’s an unlikely exception: Sierra Leone, one of the world’s most impoverished countries. In the video above, I travel to Sierra Leone to chronicle that country’s campaign to get all children in school — and then to get them to actually learn to read, even in ramshackle schools with no electricity or plumbing. The children broke my heart and also inspired me. If Sierra Leone can do this, other countries can — and surely the United States can emulate that same determination to help every child learn. This education revolution in Sierra Leone is the brainchild of President Julius Maada Bio and his youthful minister of education, David Sengeh. A Harvard graduate, Sengeh was working for IBM when President Bio asked him to come home and help his country — but now they face a test. Nationwide elections will be held late this month, with Bio campaigning for another term.
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