Liberia’s Education Ministry is requiring all public high schools to collect their fees through the GSM mobile money platform.
Mobile Money referes to financial transactions done through the use of mobile phones.
The Ministry of Education embraces the use of technology to enhance registration processes and data collection at Basic and Secondary Education, an Education Ministry’s press release has said.
The Ministry on Monday informed all Public High Schools (10th to 12th grade) within the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications locations across the country to collect school fees via a customized LonestarCell/MTN Mobile Money platform.
According to the Ministry, the system for school fees payments of 10th to 12th graders becomes effective as of Thursday, August 9, 2018.
High School administrators have been instructed to institute a mechanism to guide parents and students to use the platform effectively, Education Ministry authority says.
“The method of payment is currently available on the lonestarCell/MTN Mobile Money shortcode system *156#. Each school has a confirmed legacy code provided by the Ministry of Education which represents the unique identifier when completing payments online. Click the following link to view Public High Schools codes,” according to the Education Ministry’s press release.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry says all schools located outside of mobile coverage area will maintain the traditional on-campus fees collection process.
The Ministry continues to engage with providers to extend the service across all schools and ensure a uniform process of fees collections.
The Public High School Mobile Money payment method will also allow the Ministry access to real-time statistics on registered student data.
The system will capture school name, district, county, students’ names, grade level, gender, section, which are relevant data for effective decision making. It is also important to note that, there will be NO additional transaction fee charged to students for using the Public High School Fee collection Mobile Money system.
Additionally, the Ministry mandates all schools including Private, Community, and Faith-based to accept both prevailing legal tenders of the nation, the Liberian dollar, and the United States dollar without preference.
Schools are encouraged to display fees in both currencies on their information sheet or in the case where prices are shown in United States dollars only, students and parents must be allowed to pay the equivalent in Liberian dollars.
Meanwhile, School authorities, students, parents, teachers and the General Public are advised to call 1416 on any matter of concern regarding Schools in the country.
Classes for School year begin September 3, 2018, the Education Ministry’s press statement says.