Update on the closure of Methodist and Longman Schools

By Sailu Bah Following the recent closure of Brikama Methodist Upper Basic and Senior Secondary Schools and Longman Memorial Lower Basic School by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Foroyaa has been making efforts to contact the relevant authorities on the matter amidst appeals being made by parents, teachers and students of the affected schools. When this reporter visited the ministry yesterday, Monday, 24 November, 2014, to enquire about its position regarding the impact the closure may have on the education of the students of the affected schools as raised by their teachers and parents, he was told that they would come back to him to address such concerns. Earlier, on the 13 November to be precise, the Ministry of Secondary and Basic Education issued a press release ordering the closure of the two schools for having failed to comply with the policy of allowing the teaching of Islamic Education in their respective schools. The students of the affected schools have raised the concern that they would not be able to complete the syllabus with the continued closure of their schools. As for the parents, this represents financial loses to them as they have already paid huge amounts of money to cover school fees and books, and cannot afford to pay the same sums at other schools for their children to continue with their education. Also complaining are the teachers who explained that they would be out of work. All these stakeholders have appealed to the authorities to reconsider the decision and reopen the schools for the benefit of the students, teachers and parents alike. It has been noted that the continued closure of the two schools means that 900 students have not been attending classes since 13^th November; that 120 grade 9 students and 270 grade 12 students do not know whether they will be able to take their final exams which are said to be just at the corner.]]>