As the plot thickens on the crisis affecting Sifoe Senior Senior Secondary School with students refusing to attend lessons, sources familiar with the issue have been talking to GunjurNewsOnline.
The head girl of the school who spoke to GunjurNewsOnline said: “We are really desperate. We are suffering because our toilet conditions are very poor. We need a good environment for proper education. The bad smell of the toilets is not good for our health. We have suffered a lot in the area of transportation because we find it so difficult to reach home after school despite having 3 buses. The principal sold two of the buses. Looking at the school environment it is very good today thanks to our SMC and our parents who sacrificed their time to clean our school for us. We have been complaining a lot and today we want our voice to be heard. We want change and the change we want is for the principal to leave” The chairman of senior management committee, Lamin Demba, expressed disappointment at the conduct of the principal, saying: “We don't need his services in the school anymore. He is not doing his duty as expected for the entire 11 years he spent in the school. He has never done or brought any development to the school”. On his part, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education had this to say: “Sifoe senior secondary is not the only senior secondary school in The Gambia so what applies to all the senior school will apply to Sifoe. We have agreed to form an investigation team who will take care of this matter. The team is headed by the chief of Kombo South Lamin Darboe”. He made a plaintive appeal to the board to take their job seriously “because it is only the board that can appoint and dismiss. The board is constituted by the act of Parliament and an act of parliament constitutes a law so we have to respect the laws of the country. He maintained: “We will appeal to the board to grant a leave(to the principal) untill we get the report from the investigation team. If he is found guilty, we will deal with the issue; if he is not guilty he will continue. I urge the students to report to school as soon as possible”. he concluded.
