Residents of Barclayville, the capital of Grand Kru, have expressed their frustration in the County Education Officer (CEO) and District Education Officers (DEOs) for their alleged continued abandonment of their classrooms since 2021; something this paper is still investigating.
However, parents and guardians whose children attend the Barclayville Central High School are threatening to either go on the rampage or withdraw their wards from the school for the pending academic 2023/2024 year.
According to the report, the parents and guardians said their action is due to the lack of supervision of the public school system in the county by those assigned there by government and tasked with the responsibility to carry out such instructions.
They alleged that both the CEOs and DEOs have abandoned their assignments of supervising teachers, who are supposed to be in the classrooms to teach during the 200-day instructional period.
The parents and guardians made known their frustration during the graduation ceremony of the Junior High Section of the Barclayville Central High School, during the course of last week in Barclayville where the CEO and DEOs were conspicuously absent from the program.
They said being that there are no DEOs to supervise those teachers in various public schools, in spite of receiving monthly salaries from the government, they hardly report to classes to teach and that has been a routine throughout the course of the school year.
In September of last year, the education system in that county was hit by a corruption scandal for which the Southeastern Regional County Education Officer, Asonic Wollor gave an ultimatum to District Education Officers the county, including Nicholas Droyen Wreh and three others accused to return school fees allegedly collected from students with immediate effect.
He therefore called on the district education officers to refrain from acts of corruption that have the propensity to undermine the efforts and progress of the Education Ministry in transforming the education sector across the country.
Wollor stated that the four district education officers in Grand Kru were accused by the county education officer of financial malpractices and have been engaged into acts that are negatively impacting the county’s education system.
He described the action by the accused officers as “corruption, fraud, and misappropriation of public funds,” something that he said is against Education Ministry policy.
The Regional Education Officer (REO) for “Region Three,” made these assertions when granted interview to some local reporters at the time in Grandcess, Grand Kru County.
However, since the allegations against the 4 District Education Officers, there seems not to be any disclaimer yet from them, as rumors suggest they might have abandoned their assignments in the county and relocated elsewhere.
Similarly, during the second quarter of this year, the CEO and DEOs that supervise the public school system in Rivercess County were reported to have boycotted or abandoned their assignments for unexplained reasons, thereby prompting parents and guardians to express their frustration.
By all accounts, corruption is rife in Liberia, both in the public and private sectors, be it in government offices, or private institutions.
