By S. Siapha Mulbah (Cub Reporter)
Liberia’s Education Minister, Professor Ansu Sonii, has alarmed at the constant hiking of graduation fees by school administrations thus setting a new guideline mandating all private schools to collect nothing more than US$ 100 from parents for their children graduating as of academic 2021/2022.
Professor Sonii said the Education Ministry has been advising school administrators to coordinate their various fees for the benefit of all Liberians but the opportunity has been misused by some schools which has deprived many students from being part of graduation ceremonies because of high fees imposed on them.
According to the minister, the ministry has had several engagements with stakeholders in the educational sector concerning the matter of graduation which schools had attached some unnecessary fees, a financial burden which most parents cannot afford to bear.
“We have sat and calculated what it takes to graduate students at the 12th Grade level which is not greater than hundred USD. For a school that has 50 students and below, US$ 100 is enough and schools that have above 50 to 200 students US$75 is enough,” Prof. Sonii emphasized.
“The only people who wear gowns for graduation are degree candidates. When you complete high school, there should be no flamboyancy added to it, except appreciation. So let the students graduate in their uniforms so that parents can be able to afford the cost,” the Minister stressed.
He added that any school found violating the newest regulation and receiving fees above the prescribed amount will face the full weight of the law not specifically revealing the consequences.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has banned the Haywood Mission School and Ricks Institute for time indefinite following constant violations of regulations set by the Ministry to guide schools operating in the country.
According to the Education Minister, the two well-known and historical institutions have operated in the country for a very long time but they persistently violate the ministry’s prescribed rules in terms of graduating students.
He told reporters at the Ministry of Information that the two schools have been fined over two times for putting out students before the official release of WAEC results which is a major requirement for graduating students.
The minister maintained that the Leo Sampson Haywood Mission and the historical Baptist school Ricks Institute results from the just ended WASSCE has been withheld and all students from said institutions should proceed to the WAEC Liberia headquarters to have access to his or her result.
“It is your choice to take your children to Ricks or Haywood, but their names are not on the list of registered schools in the Republic of Liberia and they will never write WASSCE nor receive numbers for their students,” Prof. Sonii noted.