By: Kadiatu Sankoh
The Seawright Senior Secondary School in Tungie Town in the Gorama Mende Chiefdom in Kenema District, Eastern Sierra Leone, has narrowly avoided collapse after the family of the Gorama Mende Paramount Chief intervened with an emergency cash donation to keep the institution running.
On Thursday, 12th February, 2026 Alhaji Gassama, representing Paramount Chief Haja Mariama Gassama Kanja IV, handed over Le 25,200 (Twenty-Five Thousand, Two Hundred Leones) to the school authorities following a threat by teachers to down tools due to months of unpaid salaries.
The school teachers had threatened to stop teaching in school over salary backlogs since November, 2025. The teachers claim that the unpaid salary crisis is as a result of an unauthorized withdrawal from the school’s account by a certain former Principal.
The cash donation from the Paramount Chief’s family was presented to the current Principal of the school, Pa Alimamy Kalokoh, in a bid to stabilize the school’s operations and ensure pupils are taught and kept in school.
The Coordinator of the school, Rahman Barrie has said that the school had been turned into “a free-fall throughout 2025” as the school had being enmeshed in financial impropriety and gross mismanagement.
Mr. Barrie, who took charge of restructuring the school in September 2025, has since overseen its transition from Junior to Senior Secondary School. However, a total of thirteen teachers, mostly recruited from neighboring districts including Magburaka and Bombali, have remained in post despite months of unpaid salaries.
He said the donation from the Paramount Chief’s family had provided vital breathing space but warned that the school still faced shortages of stationery, teaching materials and basic operational funding. He alleged that actions taken by the former principal had significantly undermined community efforts to secure education for local children.
Barrie expressed deep gratitude to the Gassama family, calling the support “a major boost to the school’s survival and growth”. He and other administrators also appealed to the Government of Sierra Leone for official approval of the school’s upgraded status and for additional assistance to ensure long-term sustainability.
They stressed that government recognition would strengthen the school’s capacity to serve pupils in Tungie Town and surrounding communities.