The Director of Teaching Management in the Teaching Service Commission Sierra Leone (TSC-SL), Marian Abu, has revealed that One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Seven (1,957) teachers have been suspended from government payroll.

She made the disclosure during the fiscal year 2022 budget preparation of the Commission in the just concluded bilateral budget discussion organized by Ministry of Finance in its Conference Hall on George Street, Freetown.

She said the teachers have been suspended for various reasons emanating from the past verification exercise of all government employees across Ministries, Departments and agencies (MDAs).

It could be recalled that President Bio’s New Direction government undertook cleaning of government payroll with the verification of employees.

According to her, the teachers have been suspended for reasons not unconnected to mismatch of personal information on government payroll and the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), self-transfer of teachers from schools if recruitment to other schools in cities, among others.

Speaking on recruitment and promotion of teachers, she said, since 2018, government has recruited Eight Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty-Nine (8989) teachers.

The Director disclosed that among the recruited teachers, Two Thousand, Four Hundred and Eighty-Five (2,485) were women and Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Four (6,504) men.

She said that the Commission has also assessed Three Thousand and Three teachers (3,003) for promotion.

The chairperson of TSC-SL, Conrad Sackey, reiterated on the need of government to allocate the requested summary budget of the Commission which is Six Billion, Two Hundred Million Leones (Le6.2B).

He further spoke about the significant strides of the Commission in ensuring quality teaching and promotion of free quality education.