The Deputy Director of Education in Kailahun District, east of Sierra Leone has placed a ban on all private or extra lessons on school campuses within the district. Aloysius M. Gassimu told the press that extra classes conducted in schools by teachers are weighing heavily on the government’s policy of education for all.
According to the deputy director, most teachers now deprive pupils who cannot afford to pay for extra classes do lessons they are to get as required by the school curriculum.
Gassimu, in very strong terms, warned heads of schools and their teaching staffs to desist from the practice forthwith, as there are laid down penalties awaiting those who contravene the rules.
The director has already held meetings with all school authorities in the Kailahun district, where he made it clear in all his messages that the holding of free extra lessons will not be objected to once they have no financial implications that will affect other pupils whose parents cannot afford to pay.
He admonished especially the teachers to see themselves as people who have vowed to help equip their brothers and sisters academically so that they can in turn contribute positively to the development of not only their community but the nation as a whole.
Addressing stakeholders including teachers and parents in one of his meetings held at the National Secondary School in Kailahun town, Gassimu said teachers should consider their job as a respectable profession and a sacrifice and that they must be prepared to teach the pupils all that the curriculum requires for those writing the NPSE, BECDE, and WASSCE exams.
Since he took office as district deputy director of education, Gassimu has restructured the system of education in Kailahun. According to the principal of National Senior Secondary school Massira Braima Lahai, the deputy director has proven to be particularly a representative son of the district.
Lahai told Concord Times newspaper that the deputy director “is not a man who stays in his office and expects things to go his way, rather he goes in and out to make sure that pupils, parents, teachers and heads of schools know their responsibilities so that the educational system can be improved to match the modern trend”.
He said the unannounced visits made by the deputy director to schools have helped to shape up some laggard teachers.
It could be recalled that during the last academic year, the deputy director launched what he dubbed the “extra charges refund” with the aim to reimburse all extra monies collected by heads of schools in all 14 chiefdoms in the Kailahun district.
Though this did not go down well with many heads of schools, parents however welcomed the move and urged the director to continue his efforts to salvage the district educational set up.
Meanwhile, Gassimu said this year’s campaign against extra charges is a warning to those who violate government’s policy with impunity. He said government approves school fees for this academic year in Le20,000 per pupil per term for J.S.S. and Le25,000 per pupil per term for SSS.
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