Principal Mohamed Alie
By Mohamed Vandi in Kenema
The Principal of Nusarat Ahmadiyya Muslim Junior School for girls in Bo is under fire from parents of pupils of the school. The principal, Mohamed Alie has allegedly collected nearly Le 60 million from hundreds of pupils for a school development project without the approval of the ministry of education.
Aruna Mansaray, a parent, told Politico that the principal "collected Le 45,000 from every child attending the school on the grounds that it was a decision of the parents at a Community Teachers' Association (CTA) Meeting". He said "many parents including myself, were not informed about the said meeting and we do not even believe it ever took place".
Mansaray accused the principal of "fraudulently conniving with the CTA Chairman to collect the money for their own use, adding: ‘’I am going to champion the cause and ensure that this issue is investigated’’.
Another parent, Memunatu Kamara called on the Ministry of Education to speedily investigate the legality of the school collecting such monies from parents.
The Principal, Mohamed Alie admitted collecting Le 45,000 from each of the pupils. Speaking to Politic, he said he was only implementing the decision of the parents reached at a CTA meeting.
Alie who boasted of high level connections in government, said: "it is not a hidden issue since the Deputy Director of Education himself is aware of the decision". He denied collecting the money for his personal gains, adding that the money would be spent "on a fencing project for the school".
The Deputy Director of Education, John Swarray denied any knowledge of a CTA decision to collect the money, contrary to the principal's claim.
Swarray said that before such money was collected "a well attended CTA meeting should have been convened where parents would take the decision and the minutes of that meeting forwarded to the ministry for approval".
No minutes of any such meeting were produced.
(C) Politico 06/03/14
