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Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education Conrad Sackey has announced plans to remove teachers from the government payroll if they remain absent from their assigned schools for six consecutive terms without following the established disciplinary process.
Sackey disclosed this during a special edition of the Civic Town Hall discussion on the theme, “How Do We Address the Threats to Quality Education in Sierra Leone?”
The Minister said the government is introducing a digital teacher attendance monitoring system known as “We Day Ya”, which uses fingerprints, GPS technology and tablets to record teachers’ attendance.
According to Sackey, the system will allow the Ministry and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) to monitor whether teachers are reporting to their assigned schools.
He explained that the system records the location and time of a teacher’s registration, making it possible to identify attempts to register attendance outside the assigned school.
“If you do that outside of the school, they will see where you do it and at what time,” Sackey said.
The Minister said the initiative is partly designed to tackle the issue of ghost teachers and reduce opportunities for manipulation of attendance records.
He further explained that teachers who are absent for six consecutive terms could be taken off the government payroll, but stressed that the process would involve an established panel with the participation of the teachers’ union.
“If you are absent for six consecutive terms without setting up a panel where the union itself is part of, we are going to say we will take you off the payroll,” he said.
Sackey also said the digital system would reduce the government’s reliance on physical attendance verification, which requires officials to travel to schools and could create opportunities for abuse.
Meanwhile, the government is strengthening its wider school monitoring system through the Quality Assurance Directorate.
The Minister disclosed that quality assurance officers have been provided with motorbikes to improve their ability to visit schools, while the Director of Quality Assurance now submits monthly reports to the Ministry’s Senior Management Team.
He said the reports provide information on schools visited and challenges identified during monitoring exercises.
Sackey added that technology is also being used to improve accountability in other areas of education, including efforts to combat examination malpractice.
He further disclosed plans for new legislation aimed at strengthening oversight of teachers, schools and examinations by giving education authorities greater powers to enforce standards.
The digital teacher monitoring system forms part of the government’s broader efforts to improve accountability, strengthen teacher attendance and ensure that public resources allocated to education are reaching the intended beneficiaries.
