A Liberian educator operating several schools within New Kru Town Mr. Robert Teah has frowned on the Ministry of Education (MOE) for allegedly increasing school operational permit fees in the face of increasing difficulties in the country.
Mr. Teah, a former representative candidate in Montserrdo County District 16 on the ticket of Unity Party (UP), operates schools that are impacting hundreds of underprivileged and less fortunate Liberian children.
In a recent interaction with our reporter, he laments that the decision by the Ministry of Education to increase school operational permit fees allegedly without holding any prior meeting with school owners is a negative signal to the country’s educational system.
Further, Mr. Teah says he expects that the Ministry of Education would have taken into consideration how the Coronavirus crisis affected the country’s educational sector, having compelled students to be out of schools throughout the period of the health crisis.
Mr. Teah suggests that the decision by the Ministry of Education is counter-productive, saying the increase in permit fees would compel some learning institutions to shut their doors to the student population of the country.
“Let me tell you here today that the current decision by the Ministry of Education will have a very sad and triggering effect on most jobless parents especially women who do not have the financial ability to contain with high cost of tuition being charged by some learning institutions,” he says.
Liberia’s educational law requires all schools operating here to pay an annual regulatory fees to the Ministry of Education to enable them to freely operate. School owners are being required to pay their annual operational or permit fees based on the institution’s size.
Information obtained from high-placed sources at the Ministry of Education in Sinkor indicates that some schools are paying between US$150.00 to US$1,000 based on the institution’s size and the kind of educational services being provided.
Meanwhile, the Liberian educator wants the Ministry of Education to re-consider its decision by returning to status quo until the government can meet with owners of schools to solicit their inputs.–Edited by Winston W. Parley
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