FREETOWN, August 29, 2025 – The start of Sierra Leone’s 2025/2026 academic year, scheduled for September 8, could face delays after the Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (CPSS) and the National Council of Head Teachers (NaCOHT) warned they would not reopen schools unless urgent concerns are addressed by government.
The warning follows a high-level meeting held on August 25 at the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) office in Kenema. Executives of CPSS, NaCOHT, and district SLTU officials jointly adopted nine resolutions, which they say are critical to sustaining President Julius Maada Bio’s Free Quality School Education (FQSE) initiative launched in 2018.
The demands include payment of outstanding school subsidies, reinstatement of teachers removed from the payroll, salary adjustments for promoted staff, and clarity on the curriculum to be used for the 2026 WASSCE examinations.
The groups also called for the review of the 2025 BECE results, which they allege unfairly disadvantaged some candidates.
According to the resolutions, schools will not reopen unless government clears at least two terms of subsidy arrears and takes steps to address other key issues.
Lansana Brima, Secretary of CPSS, said the move was not an attempt to undermine government policy but to “protect the credibility of the FQSE programme.”
The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education has yet to respond. If no agreement is reached in the coming days, thousands of pupils may miss the start of the new school year.
