The ministry of education in Warrap State has suspended three headteachers in Gogrial West County from the service for violating President Salva Kiir’s order not to charge fees in public schools.

Early this month Kiir issued an order that primary and secondary school education be free.

Kuot Deng Kuot, the Warrap State minister of general education and instruction, told Radio Tamazuj Friday that Emy Robin 2, Warayat, and Mayen Gumel primary schools were found violating the presidential order.

He said the state is fully implementing the presidential order and that he suspended the three headteachers of the schools that were found collecting money from parents.

“A presidential or republican order is not negotiable and is supposed to be implemented the way it is. So, in my state, we implemented it fully and I have been talking through local radios telling the people that all government schools are free and the national minister Awut Deng was here and we talked about it during the girl-child education conference,” he said. “We are also going to regulate private schools and we have suspended three headteachers in Gogrial West County for collecting fees from pupils.”

According to Minister Deng, capitation grants were released to schools on time and there should be no excuse for teachers to bill parents.

“That is not right and should not be an excuse,” he said. “Capitations are in the time but when the schools withdraw money, they cleaned out the bank accounts which led to some bank accounts being closed or frozen but we are now in the process of reactivating school accounts.”

Deng urged teachers to use capitation grants properly saying the money is enough to cater for everything in the schools.

However, Justin Akoon Tiau, the now-suspended headteacher of Warayat Primary School, told Radio Tamazuj that his suspension and that of his deputy were wrong.

“Our suspension came after some people went to the director general and education minister and reported that we were collecting money from parents,” he explained. “I showed them the registration book and they found no single coin collected and asked why we are not teaching. I told them that there is no chalk, no exercise books for lesson plans and scheme of works.”

He says that he and his deputy were suspended on allegations that they were collecting money from parents.

“The education ministry said they will send another team to come and verify whether we had collected money or not and if the committee fails to come, then we will go to the ministry to ask why they suspended us,” he said. “How much money did the minister tell you each school receives? The problem with capitation grants is not only Warayat Primary School but the whole of South Sudan primary schools did not receive grants.  Only secondary schools received their grants.”

“We are not teaching now because there is no chalk since we have returned the little money we collected,” he added.

Meanwhile, the headteacher from Mayen Gumel said his suspension was not correct because they returned the money they collected from parents after they heard the order decreeing free education.

“My suspension came on 29 March after the allegation that we collected money yet this was done before the presidential order,” he said. “Parents determined the amount of money to be charged per class and agreed on SSP 2,000 for lower classes and 3,000 for upper classes. However, when we heard about the free education, we called the parents and refunded the money.”

On Tuesday, Minister of General Education Awut Deng Achuil said they had also found three schools in Juba still collecting fees from learners in the name of parents’ contribution fees, despite the presidential order.

She identified the three schools as Atlabara East Primary School, Malakia Primary School and Juba One Girls’ Primary School.