Kakata – On Thursday, June 20, police in Margibi County used tears gas to disperse protesting students of the Booker Washington Institute and rounded several of them as tension over the reinstatement of the school principal remains tense.
Report by Yawah Y. Jaivey, Contributor
The students were furiously protesting the reinstatement of dismissed principle Harris Fumba Tarnue.
The reinstatement Mr. Tarnue was reinstated by President George Manneh Weah but the students have rejected the decision.
The office of President Weah on Wednesday ordered the reinstatement of principal Tarnue, who was relieved of his position by the Minister of Education and some members of the institute’s board recently.
Earlier, the Board of Governors submitted a formal complaint against Mr. Tarnue to the Education Ministry alleging several counts including nepotism, administrative improprieties and gross disrespect to the Board.
The enraged students with placards early Thursday morning staged a protest, barricading the main entrance of the institution to disallow the school’s Board of Governors from conducting the reinstated process.
It took hours of negotiation by the board and other eminent alumni of the school before accessing the school’s campus.
The students presented a petition to the board which has similarities with the counts that members of the board had earlier passed a majority vote of no-confidence against Mr. Tarnue.
The students further stated that their rejection of the school’s Principal also stems from his “less interest” shown over the years for the students, alleging that Mr. Tarnue focus is only being placed on the welfares of staffers.
They alleged that under Principal Tarnue’s leadership, the dormitories are poorly maintained and the sanitary conditions of the bathrooms pose a serious health risk to students.
According to the students, BWI has turned into a business center rather than a center for academic excellence.
The students claimed that the BWI Administration imposed L$1,000 interest on every deferred payment requested by parents and students during registration.
They noted that students are enrolled in huge numbers in the name of generating internal revenue despite inadequate instructional materials, limited classrooms and dormitory rooms while both the regular, post-secondary and professional program students are having classes simultaneously, thus leading to low learning outcomes.
The agitated students disclosed that the coolers (water fountains) previously used by students for drinking in the cafeteria during the past administration have been replaced by Ebola buckets, the drastic reduction of quality and quantity of food amidst the increase in budgetary allotment for food in fiscal year 2016/2017 by the Government of Liberia.
Receiving the petition, the Mr. John S. Youboty, Sr., Chairman of the Board of Governors of BWI promised the students that the board attaches serious important to their allegations and will look into it, but reminded them to remain peaceful.
Mr. Youboty call did not, however, calm down the brewing tension as he and other board members hurriedly left the scene to conduct the closed door reinstatement of Principal, Tarnue.
Following the reinstatement of Mr. Tarnue, tension escalated as he was escorted out of the campus under a heavy security escort amidst stone throwing and booing from students.