By Lansana Bayoh Sesay, Information Officer, HRMO
The Civil Service College was established in Sierra Leone during the Colonial era to train West Africans to serve in the administration of the civil service in Sierra Leone and the other British West African Colonies.
In 2012, the Civil Service College was transformed to the Civil Service Training College as part of the ongoing reforms in the civil service.
Recently, the first batch of 40 civil servants, under the Medium – Term Programs for diploma courses, since the reinstitution of the college, matriculated at the college campus at State Avenue, Tower Hill in Freetown.
In his keynote address, the Director, Training and Career Development at the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO), Mr. Matthew Beckhio said the goal of the two years Medium-Term Programs is for the matriculants to acquire the requisite knowledge and skill as well as values for them to succeed in their career as civil servants.
He entreated them to be dedicated in the training program, establish good relationship with colleagues and lecturers as well as to work as a team.
The Principal, Civil Service Training College, Dr. Mohamed Yamba Bangura, said the college is providing training for improvement in Governance and Management with a view to ensure effective and efficient service delivery in the civil service.
He said as a level B-TEC– Accredited institution, the college has a partnership arrangement with UNIMAK for the delivery of an undergraduate degree in Public Administration and Management in 2021/22 academic year. He said this will provide opportunity for those who will successfully complete the certificate and ordinary diploma to progress in their in–service learning.
Dr. Bangura said the college hasย provision for long–term training, with a duration of 2–3 years, leading to the award of Master Degree for civil servants who have successfully completed their postgraduate diploma programs that need top–ups as a postgraduate requirement by leading universities, firstly in Sierra Leone and later in other countries.
The principal of the college said Njala University has been approached for a new programme called Professional Doctorate in Public Administration and Management or Human Resource Management.
He said the professional doctorate will be tailored for civil servants with master degree and more than ten years work experience in the civil service.
The Registrar, Civil Service Training College, Mr. Mohamed Taylor mentioned that the students will be trained in various diploma courses in Human Resource Management, Records Management and Secretarial Studies, Public Administration and Social work.
He said the programsย at the Civil Service Training College are segmented in two tiers; tier one are the short-term trainings which form the core mandate of the institution, tailor–made and designed specifically for civil servants.
Such trainings, the Registrar went on, include: Asset Management, Customer Care and Ethics, Records Management, Office Procedure, the Civil Service Code, Regulations and Rules and ICT and the Tier 2 are the mid-term trainings which constitute diplomas and postgraduate diplomas.
A matriculant and staff of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Kadiatu Kargbo expressed happiness for being enrolled for the Medium–Term Training Programs, which she said will capacitate her to do her work effectively after successfully completing the program.
