By Politico staff writer
As the Ministry of Finance disburses payment of school fees for the first term of the 2021/2022 academic year in consonance to the Free Quality Education provided by the government, tuition fees payment for 53 Senior Secondary Schools nationwide were withheld pending investigations by the Ministry of Basic and Senior School Education (MBSSE) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over some irregularities in the data provided by those schools.
According to a restatement from the Finance ministry, the said schools allegedly overstated the number of candidates for the payment of West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) fees made to WAEC for the ongoing examination.
In a news conference recently held in Freetown, the Minister of Basic and Senior School Education Dr. David Moinina Sengeh said that the Ministry noticed some discrepancies with regards the number of pupils sent by certain schools as their candidates to benefit from the government paid for WASSCE.
“Some of these schools have about 70 pupils in SSS 1, about 70 as well for SSS 2, and eventually send over 200 pupils to take the WASSCE in SSS 3. So the ACC and the Ministry are investigating to know how these figures are rising astronomically,” he said.
Statement also noted that the government has made a total payment of Le52, 540,460,000.00 as tuition fees for pupils in Pre-Primary, Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Government and Government-Assisted Schools for the said period.
However Politico made unsuccessful attempts to reach ministry officials for a list of the schools affected by the action.
It added that the various payments were made directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary schools based on the approved school list and enrolment data submitted by the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education to the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, it stated that Le462 million was also paid to 15 Special Needs Schools across the country for Quarter 3 of 2021, while the payment process for Quarter 4 of a similar amount is in progress.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (27/09/21)
