Ghost Schools - a problem for us too!

We have reached a milestone with the Primary School.  After a school has been running for three years it  becomes eligible to apply for financial support from the government. But, as Alpha has said in the past on a number of occasions, "This is a problem we are having here".  The problem this time - corruption.  The Ministry of Education was under investigation.

One of the New Era Primary School pupils

Lansana Fofana,  writing from Freetown in September 2009, has the story.
 'Magnus Kamara is a school inspector with a difference. He has been hired to find schools that don't exist.
"It has been a shocking experience. In some of the towns and villages we visited, there were neither school structures nor genuine teachers, but the government was paying salaries and subsidies to them, on a monthly basis."

The Education Minister, Minkailu Bah, has moved swiftly to end the fraud.  "This syndicate works because staff of my ministry, including supervisors and education secretaries, connive with officials from the accountant general's office, to carry out the act," Bah adds.'

After investigation, the Department is up and running again and if all goes to plan, the teachers' salaries in the Primary School will be paid by the government from January next year.        This will allow our finances to strengthen the Secondary School and further developments.

To read Lansana Fofana's article on "Ghost Schools" go to  http://allafrica.com/stories/200905080007.html