By Ragan M. Conteh

Parents across Sierra Leone have expressed frustration over the exorbitant school fees levied against them by school authorities.

Some parents even go as far as accusing ministry officials of conniving with heads of schools authorities to extort their money.

According to some parents President Julius Maada Bio’s free education is a good platform to have helped them from paying exorbitant school fees but there are now people in schools who are undermining the project.

‘We are paying school fees even though government gives subsidies. This year I spent more than  Le 1000 before my daughter was accepted in school. What we consider as free education has turned out to be fake,’ Memuna Sesay a daughter of three said.

What is more disturbing, the parent explained is that apart from the school fees parents are paying,  the extra charges are killing them.

They said President Julius Maada Bio flagship free education is going down the drain due to the “nefarious operations” or some school authorities who engaged in sabotaging the FQE project.

They pointed out that the free education project of President Bio is aimed at improving the human capital development project as well boosting development.

Parents disclosed that some schools even reject students that have good results and enrolled those who  pay up more money to them to get their children admitted.

Parents have also accused  schools authorities of compromising  the education standards in the country.

Parents underscore the fact that most of the schools are now engaging more on “monitanising” education in schools than on focusing on promoting the quality aspects of the education promised in the FQE.

“The education standards are falling. Some schools are even asking money to be paid for assignments , ” one Mohamed Yaraba said.

The parents have called on government especially the ministry of education to prioritize the monitoring of schools and enforcing government regulations to strengthen education in the country.