SCHOOL ON AUTOPILOT

Allegations of corruption at Crescent as teachers want better pay • Parents pay P40 000 but school allegedly broke • Procurement wing allegedly corrupt and draining the school

Chaos has descended at Crescent English Medium School in Lobatse as unhappy teachers demand an increase on their salaries despite the school reporting it is broke.

In a document seen by The Midweek Sun teachers demanded a salary increment from the school board complaining that the last increase was seven years ago contrary to an agreement that they would get 10 percent salary increment every year. They also questioned why the school has stopped the five percent salary adjustment upon contract renewal.

Some allowances amounting to P3 000 per teacher have not been paid while medical aid payments contributions are currently perched at P500 per employee instead of 50 percent sharing with the employer as stipulated in their contracts. Further, they allege that the school has no sports equipment, leaving the development of learners in sporting activities in limbo. Despite all these, parents fork out P30 000 per year for their children from Standard One to Seven. Secondary level children from Form One to Form Four pay close to P40 000 a year. It is alleged that the school is on its knees. Board chairman Mohammad Jada last month wrote to school staff members alerting them that they will not be offering salary advances or loans to staff members. Jada advised therefore that requests should not be sent to the board or even the school head. “We wonder where all the money that parents pay go to. Those people are forever demanding that parents pay for their children’s school fees but the money somehow disappears,” a concerned staff member said. When responding to the matter through a letter seen by this publication, the school board said the 10 percent increment per annum is not sustainable since school fees have not been increased since 2019. Further, they said that school enrolment has declined, meaning the five percent adjustment promised was not sustainable to implement. On school equipment, the board said the school purchased equipment in full in the last three years but to this day, no accountability for the said equipment can be provided. “Sports equipment has been laying on the fields, unattended. This shows irresponsibility on the part of the students and teachers.

“Should there be sufficient commitment from the sports department and teachers to ensure the equipment will be safely stored and utilised appropriately, the Board can consider revisiting this matter,” the board said. When reached this week, Jada said he was in Francistown and unable to attend to a questionnaire sent by this publication. He however noted that the school is not as broke as the staff want to paint it. “We are not broke. It is just that parents are slow to pay and we cannot really kick students out because then we will be out of business. Unfortunately, I am not available to give a comprehensive response,” he said. But a staff member at the school commented, “He is not being honest, they always send students back home when they have not paid, it is just that they are selective on who to send home.” A former school board member told this publication that Crescent is broke because of their procurement wing. “The procurement department is very corrupt. People are just awarded tenders haphazardly. No records, no nothing; that school is just on autopilot. “I challenge them to produce financial reports of the school, or at the very least minutes of board meetings. What kind of an organisation runs without documented proof that meetings or reports were compiled? The source alleged that members of the board benefit from tenders without declaring interest first and even go to an extent of partnering with outsiders with the sole intention of defrauding the school. “They can bring in someone to supply food for the school and when that person charges P60 000, they tell them to make it P100 000 so that the P40 000 will go into their pockets,” the former board member claimed. The source said that the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) must start investigating that school.