Early Life and Education
Ernest Bai Koroma was born on October 2, 1953, in Makeni, Bombali District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Koroma was born of christian parentage in the predominantly Muslim north and a devout Christian himself. Koroma's father, Sylvanus Koroma was of Loko and Temne parentage and a native of Makari Gbanti chiefdom in Bombali District. Pa Sylvanus was a very religious christian and he spent years working as a bible school teacher at the Wesleyan Church in Makeni. Pa Sylvanus Koroma was also a strong supporter of president Siaka Stevens' APC government. Ernest Bai Koroma's mother, Madam Alice Koroma (June 27, 1932 – July 6, 2012), was an ethnic Biriwa Limba from the small rural town of Kamabai, Bombali District. Maddam Alice Koroma spent almost her entire career working as a primary school teacher in Makeni. Madam Alice Koroma served in the Makeni city council in the 1960s as a member of the All People's Congress (APC). Maddam Alice Koroma was a longtime member of the APC political party under the leadership of Siaka Stevens and she was a strong supporter of Siaka Stevens' APC government.
Koroma is an ethnic Temne and was raised in a predominantly Temne household in Makeni. He is also a fluent speaker of the Temne language . Koroma grew up in a religious Christian household in Makeni and he regularly attended church services with his siblings at the Wesleyan church in Makeni, where his parents were longtime members of the congregation.
Koroma attended the Sierra Leone Church Primary School in Makeni, and then proceeded to the Magburaka Government Secondary School for Boys in Magburaka, Tonkolili District, (about 25 miles from his hometown of Makeni) where he graduated in 1973.
Upon graduation from secondary school, Koroma moved to the capital Freetown to attend the Fourah Bay College. He graduated from the Fourah Bay College in 1976 with a degree in Business Management.
Soon After graduating from the Fourah Bay College, Koroma was employed as a teacher at the St. Francis Secondary School in his hometown of Makeni from 1976 to 1978.
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