Board of Trustees of the Freetown Secondary School for Girls yesterday Monday July 10th 2017 held a Press Conference at the FSSG School Hall in Freetown accusing the Board of Governors of hindering the progress of the school.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Ore Awoonor –Renner speaking on the position of the Board of Trustees said that after ten years of applying for the Freetown Secondary School for Girls (FSSG) to attain the status of becoming a private institution, finally on the 6th of October 2015 they were officially granted a letter from the Ministry of Education Science and Technology stating that Cabinet have approved that they should start operating the school as a private institution. She added that based on the letter , the proprietors were to work in collaboration with stakeholders , the Ministry of Education Science and Technology , the Board of Governors and the Community Teachers Association to ensure the successful implementation of the school’s privatization plans for a period of three school years. 

She disclosed that following the guidelines attached to the letter dated 6th October 2015, the Board of Trustees has been making all efforts to have the cooperation of the Board of Governors but unfortunately the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Ibrahim Thorlu-Bangura continuesto determinedly thwart the initiative of privatizing the school and he continue to claim that the Ministry of Education Science and Technology did not copy the Board of Governors. Mrs. Ore Awoonor –rennerfurther disclosed that Mr. Ibrahim Thorlu-Bangura who is Chairman of the Board of Governors also ignored the invitation and the photocopied letter sent to him by the Board of Trustees. She went on to say that they have reported the matter to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology of the uncooperative attitude and stance of the Chairman Board of Governors. She added that the latest of the willful act to derail the process is the obstacles created by Board of Governors in moving to one shift come September 2018.’A practice run before the school goes private in September 2018,’ she said. She concluded by saying that the Board of Trustees is fully aware of the options open to it and will not hesitate to effectuate the most applicable under the circumstances.

Reverend Cannon L.B. Wright Consultant to the proprietor of the Freetown Secondary School for Girls ( FSSG) in the privatization process said that initially F.S.S. G was a private school and government requested for it to operate as a public school which the proprietor accepted. He added that based on the challenges on the two shifts in the country, government again has requested for schools to return to one shift and the FSSG proprietor wholeheartedly accepted the idea. He went on to say that they are against the idea of school children going home late at night and bringing the school into one shift will reduce lots of the vices that are taken place in the schools. He added that pupils stand to benefit a lot when the school is privatized. He added that they have secured enough class rooms that would be enough for the pupils.

He disclosed that they have made several complaints to the Ministry of Education Science and Technology to intervene but it all fell on deaf ears and he urged the Ministry of Education to intervene before the situation get worst.