Section 2, The Education Act, 2004

(1) Subject to this Act, there is hereby continued inexistence the system of formal education consisting of the following stages:– Interpretation. 2 3 6-3-3-4 system of (a) six years of primary education; (b) three years of junior secondary education; (c) three years of senior secondary education; or three years of technical or vocational education in lieu thereof; and (d) four years of university or other tertiary undergraduate education. (2) The system referred to in subsection (1) shall be designed to– (a) rapidly enhance literacy in Sierra Leone and improve the educational opportunities for women and girls, rural areas dwellers and those disadvantaged in the acquiring of formal education; (b) make possible the acquisition of knowledge and skills valuable and relevant for employment and self-employment; (c) improve and expand the teaching of English language, French, Mathematics, the natural sciences and technology; (d) vastly expand facilities and programmes to teach technical and vocational subjects; (e) introduce into the curriculum new subjects such as indigenous languages and Sierra Leone Studies which shall give and enhance a proper and positive understanding of Sierra Leone; (f) introduce new and more appropriate methods of examining students to complement or replace the present methods; and (g) bring about the education of the whole student instead of concentration on only the cognitive education of students. (3) The age of entry into primary school shall be six years preceded, where the appropriate facilities exist, by such pre-primary education as may be prescribed.