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The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education , Dr. David Moinina Sengeh has promised to take stern action against those principals involved in the act of collecting money from parents of repeating pupils before admitting to their schools.
Dr. Sengeh made this pronouncement at the presentation of resolutions taken at the National Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (NCPSS) in Makeni , on Tuesday 8th November, 2022.
The minister told the school heads that there is a video clip of some principals collecting Le100 as repeater fees.
At the conference, issues related to the approval of teachers, early and consistent payment of school subsidies before the start of every term, and assessment of teachers, were raised.
Recruitment and promotion of teachers, proposed fees subsidies for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) at Le 70 per child and Le 80 for Senior Secondary School (SSS) pupil, before the start of every term, were also among the resolutions made.
On the issue of the National Identification Number (NIN) that was highlighted, Dr. Sengeh said all school authorities should encourage parents to get their children secure the NIN which is theirs.
For those in harder to reach rural areas, Sengeh said his ministry will decide on what to do, and again stressed that introducing the use of NIN was not meant to disadvantage or deprive candidates registering for the examinations.
He said NIN is not a condition for registering prospective candidates for examination but that every child has the right to it.
He noted that for those Schools whose legality was questioned which led to their School results being withheld by WAEC, he said the ministry will give the final list of approved legitimate Schools to WAEC to enable the release of their results. Also the issue of First Term School fees subsidies were being addressed, he assured the principals.
The minister and his team promised to discuss the concerns raised at the conference, at management meetings at the ministry.
He also promised to have another meeting with NCPSS after he would have engaged stakeholders on the issues raised.
The principals in response also appealed to the minister and team to assist them in a nationwide tour to sensitize colleague teachers on what they said are critical issues.
