By Sumner Kangbap – 23 August 2019
The Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) polytechnic on Tuesday 20th August 2019 held its academic and administrative staff assembly at the Great Hall of the Goderich campus at which event the Acting Principal of the college, Dr. Philip John Kanu commended President Julius Maada Bio, the Ministers of Finance and Technical and Higher Education respectively and the Financial Secretary for the new computerized payment system recently implemented by government for the payment of salaries to teacher training institutions nationwide in spite of the challenges underscoring that payment of salaries was a huge challenge for the college and a headache reiterating that government prioritizes education and loves the college.
Dr. Philip John Kanu also enlightened that the meeting is very important aimed at addressing the welfare of staff, acclaimed government for awarding scholarships to the children of lecturers who have served for over 10 years and even the physically-challenged and clarified that the college would pay the allowances of staff as they are still receiving subventions from government to, among others, pay part-time lecturers as well as junior and supporting staff.
He also pleaded with staff to be patient as the new computerized payment system has some challenges that would soon be overcomed attributing instances in which some staff who were not paid to the fact that they are working and receiving two government salaries, appealed to lecturers to help the college collect fees from students reiterating that the meeting was also to discuss and address various issues raised by members of staff, expressed delight that the college is peaceful since his appointment a year ago and commended all for their support and cooperation, especially lecturers for teaching and junior staff for cleaning the campus.
The Acting Principal further disclosed that the Old Students Association United Kingdom and America Branches have pledged to support his administration due to the rapid developments taking place in the college, recalled that the United Kingdom Branch funded the renovation of the staff and other toilets that were none-functional and installation of the water tanks and appealed to all to take good care of the facilities.
He went on to disclose that the Old Students Association has also promised to provide whiteboards and markers to the college before college reopens this year while the American Branch has undertaken to donate desktop computers and smart boards with Wi-Fi before December this year adding that the planting of trees and flowers to beautify the campus would continue and informed that students can now access the internet from their hotels.
“Milton Margai College has been rated second in the country and my administration is working hard to clinch the first position. Also, my administration recently bought two brand new buses with plans to buy one more. Biometric attendance for staff will soon be introduced for which I want to urge all to be committed to their work. The college will soon check the academic credentials of lecturers, the reason some lecturers have tendered their resignation letters that will not be accepted,” he informed.
Dr. Kanu went on to state that the college has awarded the three presidential candidates in the recently conducted Students Union elections that were highly-acclaimed including the chairmen of the three different groups and the Electoral Commissioner a year’s scholarship intimating that the Ministry of Technical and Tertiary Education has declared the three presidential candidates Peace Ambassadors to be addressing their colleagues in other colleges about peaceful and credible elections.
He further stated that the students who were arrested for election violence would be expelled and clarified that he never supported any of the presidential candidates intimating that the winner would form a unity government as well as appoint his opponents to top positions and declared that lecturers found guilty of involving in students’ politics would be arrested and prosecuted.
He also dilated on the process of staff promotion which he emphasized has commenced, clarified that Deans and Heads of Departments would recommend staff for promotion and Managers and Supervisors for junior staff, that attendance in college functions, late submission of grades, submission of lecture notes, supervising examinations, among other criteria, would be taken on board to assess lecturers, that admission into the college is ongoing with 31st August this year as the deadline underlining that English Language and Mathematics are compulsory subjects for admission.
He also informed that he has secured four scholarships for lecturers to pursue PhDs in the sciences and engineering and one Masters but lamented that only two lecturers accepted the offer.
The Finance Officer, Mariama Mansaray also talked about the new computerized payment system as well as the 20 staff with Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and another 8 who were affected by the new payment system.
Earlier, the Acting Vice Principal, Dr. Mohamed Alie Jalloh welcomed all reiterating that the meeting was very important for the peace and development of the college and acclaimed all for their support and cooperation during the three weeks absence of Dr. Philip John Kanu.
The college’s registrar, Mr. Sherifu Bangura, chaired the well-attended meeting of the three campuses while the question and answer session climaxed the assembly.
