Educational institutions in Ghana were re-opened for the 2020/2021 Academic Year after ten months of closure, announced since March last year, in an attempt to contain the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The closure impacted, not only students, teachers and families, but also had far-reaching economic and societal consequences.
The re-opening of the academic calendar has seen most private schools take advantage of the situation to increase their fees for the 2020/2021 Academic Year, on the blind side of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other stakeholders, a move that has raised concerns among parents and guardians.
Much as the long closure of the academic calendar comes with high social and economic costs, its impact is also particularly severe for school administrators as well as vulnerable families. It was, therefore, to the chagrin of parents and guardians that exorbitant fees were rolled out by most private schools for the 2020/2021 Academic Year.
The school administrators must bear in mind that parents and guardians were also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had considerable impacts on Ghanaian businesses, forcing many firms to cut costs by reducing staff hours, cutting wages, and, in some cases, laying off workers.
According to results from a new COVID-19 Business Tracker Survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, shows that about 770,000 workers (25.7% of the total workforce) had their wages reduced, and about 42,000 employees laid off during the country’s COVID-19 partial lockdown. The pandemic also led to a reduction in working hours for close to 700,000 workers.
Generally, the results indicate that during the country’s COVID-19 partial lockdown, businesses received shocks in the supply and demand for goods and services. Close to 131,000 businesses had challenges accessing finance and expressed uncertainty in the business environment.
The results from the COVID-19 Business Tracker Survey show that nobody was spared the ravaging effects of the pandemic. Therefore, it will be unconscionable on the part of school administrators to recover their financial woes from unsuspecting parents and guardians, in the form of excessive school fees.
The Chronicle would also want to question whether the educational institutions were denied access to the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme established by the government to support businesses. It would be unfair if private schools were made to access the stimulus package and, yet, are charging increased fees with the pretext of economic inactivity during the lockdown period.
However, if the schools were not beneficiaries of the stimulus package, then the government must intervene to prevent them from fleecing parents and guardians who were also not spared the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chronicle would like to suggest to the government that in order to lessen the impacts of COVID-19 on the citizenry, clear cut policies and programmes must be established to prevent shylocks from insisting on their pound of flesh at the peril of the vulnerable and marginalised families in society.
The post Impact of COVID-19: Re-opening of schools & exorbitant fees appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS