The Deputy Minister for Press and Public Affairs, Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Jarlawah A. Tonpo, on Thursday, July 14, 2022 at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism’s regular press briefing announced that the President of the Republic of Liberia, H.E. George Manneh Weah, will dedicate the SKD sport complex on Friday, July 15, 2022, which will be followed by a sport match between the cabinet ministers and the current Lonestar national team at the stadium.
The deputy minister mentioned the late Princess Cooper case, saying that the Government of Liberia (GOL) received a communication from the family of the deceased that they are no longer interested in the second autopsy through the Justice Ministry, and this communication was received on July 11, 2022.
It can be recalled that the late Princess Cooper’s family requested a second autopsy after the first autopsy was conducted by the Government of Liberia (GOL). He said the Ministry of Justice will conduct a press conference in order to address the Princess Cooper case per the family’s request.
Meanwhile, The Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Education, Latim Da-thong, has informed the public about this year’s academic calendar.
He disclosed that registration for this academic year will begin August 15 and end on September 15, 2022. Classes resume on September 5, 2022, which he said is important because the school calendar is returning to normal schedule, thereby urging students to remain in school while the registration process is on-going.
According to Deputy Minister Da-thong, there will be a female guidance counselor assigned to each school beginning this year for the first time in the history of Liberia, to ensure that females are not sexually assaulted.
He called on all private schools to start employing female guidance counselors to ensure the safety of girl students in the educational system.
He said, regarding registration for public schools, elementary is L$1,000, junior high L$2,000 and senior high L$3,000. Graduation fee is L$5,000.
He lamented that the government does not determine what private schools charge for fees, observing that the government can set standards to ensure that inspection is made, that is when schools charge for services they do not offer. “It is the government’s responsibility to charge the school,” he said.
“The government cannot determine what any private school charges for fees. No government in the world, including the United States government, decides what private schools charge for fees. What government can do—and what government’s role is with the private sector—we have to ensure that whatever the private schools charge you they are able to provide the service. So our job is to ensure that if a private school is charging your child for computer classes, we will send inspectors there to make sure that the computer classes are provided,” said Da-thong.
Still speaking, he urged parents to review the academic tuition to be paid before the beginning of the school, and know why they are paying the money. “The PTA is very powerful, and we want you to understand your role. Parents have the right to sit with the administration and tell them what they are able to do. We are appealing to PTA across the country: they have a lot of power to work with school administrations to determine some of these issues,” Da-thong maintained.
He continued by appealing to private schools’ owners that exploiting parents is not the way forward, but being patriotic citizens and not charging above the range of parents in order to allow every student to be in school.
He further noted that no school should hold a graduation ceremony until WAEC results are released, warning that any school found in the act of going against this order will be penalized. He said the results will be out August 12, 2022, stating that only students passing at least 3 subjects will be allowed to graduate.