Tuesday 14 July | Alkali Cham
Schools have been closed since March when the Government announced a state of public emergency as mechanism to curb covid-19.
This closure as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected private schools that are largely financed through school fees, as the fees are not being paid since March due to the lockdown that meant children could not go to school.
GunjurOnline reporter, spoke to some members of staff in various private schools who expressed their level of frustration over non payment of staff salaries by their employers since April. This has created dire financial outlook for them and their families.
Speaking to this medium, Ousman Jaiteh a teacher lamented that, life has not been easy with him and his colleagues who are deprived of salaries all this while since the government ordered halt on any activities which attract social interaction, including educational activities. He added that the management of his school justified non payment of salaries to lack of funds as fees are clearly not being paid by parents of their students due to the school closure.
Patric Williams of Sunrise Centre, revealed that since April, no member of staff of their school have received salaries, adding that this has caused negative ramifications on them as they have mouths to feed, pay house rent and other family commitments. He challenged that this should serve all as a lesson to learn from, adding that private schools should place a concrete mechanism to deal with such financial challenges which affects the financial obligation of the private schools.
Lamin Jawara, urged the government to intervene by rescuing private schools out of this financial quagmire, suggesting that private schools are tax payers, therefore in a serious situation like this government, should try to bail them out financially in order to assist with payment of staff salaries.