At least six of the public school administrators who were recently dismissed by the Ministry of Education for fueling the violent student protest across Margibi have allegedly failed to account for hundreds of Liberian dollars collected in fees they collected.

According to Margibi’s county education officer Gorma Mennie, the dismissed administrators have not accounted for money collected for registration, identification cards, and physical education t-shirts.

Mennie said she has been holding a series of meetings between the dismissed administrators and the Parent Teacher Association in order to discover how the money in question can be recovered, but they have not been successful.

“We don’t want to embarrass anyone,” Mennie said. “That’s why we are pursuing them to bring back the money peacefully, but if it can’t work, it means the central administration of the Ministry of Education will be informed.”

Mennie added that the administrators’ involvement in the violent student riots across the country should be reason enough for them not to walk away with money that does not belong to them, which is estimated to be between LD $300,000 (US $300) and LD $500,000 (US $500).

Milton Coleman, one of the dismissed administrators, said Mennie needs to be more precise with her allegation by naming the accused. He added that he has no knowledge that any of the sacked administrators were in possession of money that belonged to the school.

In October, the Ministry of Education dismissed at least ten public schools teachers and administrators in seven public schools in Margibi.

Featured photo courtesy of Lars Scholtyssyk