Monrovia – The Ministry of Education recently set up a Special Taskforce to enquire into complaints from parents regarding unprescribed fees charged by Public School administrators. As a resulted of the early findings; the Ministry of Education has suspended three (3) of its County Education Officers (Mr. G. Samuel K. S. Bondo of Montserrado 1, Mr. Moses S. Dologbay of Nimba County, and Mr. James G. Gaye of Margibi) for lack of oversight which led to disregard for policies within their controlled school system.
The suspension of these individuals takes effect as of the 15th of October 2019. This action followed after an all-day deliberation held between the Senior Management Team (SMT) and Education Officers who are the direct representatives of the Minister within these counties. Hence, all education stakeholders and the public are advised not to transact any matters relative to education management or operations at the county level with the suspended persons until further notice.
The SMT’s engagement, which resulted in the above action, was predicated upon the officers’ lack of appropriate communication of changes made to the prescribed fees charged by the Ministry, which was stipulated in the National Academic Calendar 2019/2020. An act on the part of CEOs considered as disregard for direct instructions and policies of the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, the Special Taskforce remains operational and continuing the probe into complaints originating from other counties as well as analyzing fees charged at private schools. The exercise for private schools is meant to gauge details of fees charged over the last two academic years, analyze, and report the variance to determine if an increment or fees charged commensurate with the service provided.
