Historical Background

The Eastern Polytechnic was founded in the 2000/2001 academic year. It started operations as a merger of two prominent centers of learning in the eastern Region of Sierra Leone - Bunumbu Teachers College and the Government Technical Institute Kenema. The Polytechnic Act - 2001 gave the Eastern Polytechnic its legal existence on 1st October 2001.

Road to the current campus

Bunumbu Teachers College can be traced back to 1924 with the opening of a Catechist Training Centre in Bunumbu by the Methodist Mission. Later in 1933, the Missionary Society (CMS) transformed the Centre into a Teacher Training College for Primary School Teachers and named it union College. The land on which the Centre and later the College were built was donated by the late Paramount Chief Mustapha-Ngebeh I, of Kpeje West Chiefdom, Kailahun District.

In 1945, the Teachers Elementary Certificate (T.E.C.) was introduced at the College, followed by the Teachers Certificate (T.C.) in the 1960/61 academic year. In the 1973/74 academic year Union College was named Bunumbu Teachers College and taken over fully by the Government of Sierra Leone. About this time, the T.E.C. had phased out and in 1976, the Higher Teachers Certificate Primary (HTC) (Primary)) Programme was introduced at the College.

With the onset of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) movement in March 1991, Bunumbu where the College had existed since 1933, fell into the hands of RUF Rebels in May of the same year.

Students, staff members and their families were evacuated and in October, 1991, Bunumbu Teachers College resumed operations as a displaced institution in Kenema on the campus of the Government Technical Institute. Since then, two new programmes have been introduced in the College - the Higher Teachers Certificate (Secondary) (HTC(S)) Programme in 1995, and the Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) degree programme in 2000.

The Government Technical Institute was founded in 1957. The late Paramount Chief Kai-Samba of Nongowa Chiefdom, Kenema District, donated the land. The 1st Principal, who pioneered the opening of the institute, was a retired British Military Officer. Students who passed through the institute were certificated by City and Guilds of London for which they paid fees in Pounds Sterling. The institute had co-existed with Bunumbu Teachers College on its campus since October 1991.

The major functions of the two institutions over the years had been:

• the production of trained teachers for the conventional classroom in the case of Bunumbu Teachers College.
• the production of tradesmen and technicians to serve the nation in the case of the Government Technical Institute.

However, a good number of trained teachers went ahead and took up non-teaching jobs, while the institute produced technicians who took up teaching jobs, for which they were not adequately trained.

The passing of the Polytechnic Bill of 2001 into law in Sierra Leone gave the Eastern Polytechnic legal status. It now offers students the educational opportunity to go into the world of work as trained teachers, tradesmen, technicians and mechanics in all the disciplines offered at the Polytechnic. Those students who were certificated by City and Guilds are now certificated by the National Council for Technical, Vocational and other Academic Awards (NCTVA) which is a special Examining Body set up by the Sierra Leone Government and which replaced the Institute of Education.

The students go out into the world of work as self-employed entrepreneurs and also as technicians/technocrats in the national and international community.

The Eastern Polytechnic in addition produces Tradesmen, Carpenters, Masons, Mechanics and Electricians who practice their trades without the benefit of a formal education. The trainees are offered the opportunity to enroll in the Polytechnic to take the Trade Test to help them improve their skills and earn credible Certificates. In brief, the major function of the Eastern Polytechnic is to prepare individuals for various vocations at different levels.