The Minister of Pre-University Education and Literacy met this Friday, July 22, 2022, the founders of private schools in Guinea. This meeting allowed the two parties to discuss, in particular, the results of the 2021-2022 school year and to plan for the future. The actors of private education also took advantage of the opportunity to list the problems they face and propose solutions to solve these difficulties, noted a journalist from Guineematin.com who was on site.
It is in the premises of INRAP, in Conakry, that Minister Guillaume Hawing, in the company of his close collaborators, met the founders of private schools in Guinea. Among the topics discussed during this meeting is the organization of the national exams session 2022, which announced several innovations. And even if the results were catastrophic (17.62% in the CEE, 15.04% in the BEPC and 9.37% in the Bac), the players in private pre-university education welcomed the reforms undertaken by the authorities to qualify these exams.
“We support the new reforms undertaken by your department for the qualification of our education system, and we are committed to supporting you in this direction to raise the level of teaching and learning in the Republic of Guinea. We congratulate you on the measures applied during the national exams session 2022, the measures which will allow everyone to question themselves and to review the operating strategies within private schools.
Moreover, cases of fraud have been recorded at the level of certain schools; we deplore this situation and we condemn with the utmost energy these acts which do not honor us. Still in this sense, the results of the various examinations shocked all the actors of the education system (in particular the founders, parents and pupils), because we believe that our children are not as bad as that, they quite simply pay the price of several years of dysfunction on several levels.
Private schools have multiplied in the country, braving winds and tides, but very unfortunately, it has happened that competition has taken over at times. Some have engaged in unfair competition, commercializing school activity and going so far as to violate the oath of the teaching profession and trample on the basic foundations of a school which is in reality a sanctuary of knowledge. This is why we are now witnessing the creation of certain schools which do not meet any criteria”, declared Roland Sossou, the spokesperson for the founders of the private schools.
Roland Sossou, general manager of Saint-Joseph establishments and communication officer of the association of the founders of private schools
This head of the Saint-Joseph school group took the opportunity to discuss certain difficulties that the founders of private schools face, before seeking state support to deal with them. “Some schools are being evicted and expropriated by the owners from one day to the next without any intervention from our authorities, leaving the future of the children at stake and the struggle of the founders in vain for the cause of a fight which is a matter of duty sovereign of the state. We want justice for rented schools and we want school structures no longer to be kicked out in a whimsical way.
We want protection for the schools and the establishment within your department of a litigation and conflict resolution unit for these cases between the founders and the donors. We need fair and impartial school justice! Every school struggles to get out of the nets of tax officials. At times, we face shameful situations such as finding schools padlocked and colleagues locked in their offices. We would like a return to the regime of the time of Mrs. Aicha BAH (former minister of pre-university education, where we were exempt from taxes.
We are requesting to have this status or this special tax regime, given the activity we carry out, the current global crisis, the exceptional period we are going through in our country, the non-existence of a subsidy for the private sub-sector,” said Roland Sossou, adding that the founders of private schools in Guinea are also seeking support from the State to obtain a subsidy in kind and in cash. “This will allow several founders to establish themselves wherever there is a need throughout the national territory and to improve the living and working conditions of teachers and managers,” said the spokesperson for the founders of the private schools.
For his part, the Minister of Pre-university Education and Literacy noted the important part played by private pre-university education in the teaching/learning process in Guinea.
Guillaume Hawing, Minister of Pre-University Education and Literacy
According to Guillaume Hawing, since the State authorized the establishment of private schools in the country, “significant progress has been made qualitatively and quantitatively. According to data from the 2020-2021 statistical yearbooks of the Bureau of Strategy and Development (BSD), there are a total of 16,075 establishments, including 6,984 for private pre-university education; a total of 2,996,204 students including 1,215,980 for private pre-university education; a total workforce of 82,957 educators and teachers, including 43,134 for private pre-university education,” he said.
For the Minister, these figures must appeal to all the actors concerned in more than one way so that everyone takes and fully assumes their responsibility. But despite the progress made, he continues, “it is clear that private pre-university education, like the public, today records several dysfunctions including, among others: fraudulent installations; haggling over notes; cases of substitution during examinations; non-compliance with the texts and standards in force; the institutionalization of cheating during national examinations; the salaries of teachers; the use of social networks during exams”, lamented Guillaume Hawing.
According to the Minister, these practices have a negative impact on the level of qualification of our learners. “The results of the 2022 national exams are a perfect illustration,” said Guillaume Hawing, adding that his department has taken steps to put an end to this situation.
These include the updating and validation of the texts governing the operation of private establishments and schools (an activity already in progress); the strengthening of educational inspection missions; teacher training and provision of textbooks on the same basis as the public.
Mamadou Bhoye Laafa Sow pour Guineematin.com
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