GES goes bonkers over free SHS -interdicts 9 headmasters

Heads of seven Senior High Schools in the Ashanti region have been interdicted after being accused of hindering progress of government’s flagship educational programme – Free Senior High School (Free SHS).

The affected heads are; Mrs Selina Anane Afoakwa of Kumasi Girls’ SHS, Mr Nathaniel Asamoah of Asanteman SHS, Mr Andrews Boateng of Kumasi Technical Senior High School, Mr Kwadwo Obeng Appiah of Manso Edubia SHS, Mr Daniel Boamah Duku of Agric Nzema Commercial and SHS, Miss Gladys Sarfowah of Nkawie Senior High Technical School and Mr Ampong Ahmed Omar of Collins SHS.

In separate letters sent to them by Ashanti Regional Education Directorate, which have been sighted by The Chronicle, the seven have been accused of collecting unauthorised fees.

They have, therefore, been directed to hand over properties of the schools to the Ashanti Regional Education Director.

“You are hereby directed to hand over all properties of the school, with effect from 8th December, 2023 to the Regional Director of Education, Ashanti, in the interim, who will take oversight responsibilities of the school for the period of your absence,” portion of the letters said.

Their actions, according to the GES, are against the harmonisation of prospectus policy being implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Mr Henry Osei Boateng, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GES Ashanti, confirmed the interdictions to this reporter, when contacted on phone.

According to him, the Ashanti regional education director, William Kwame Amankra Appiah, arrived at this decision last Friday after the affected heads failed to defend their actions.

The action of Amankra Appiah, according to the Ashanti regional GES PRO, follows a report by monitoring teams which were deployed to monitor admission processes in the Ashanti region.

According to him, the regional director sent five monitoring teams to go round some SHSs in the Ashanti region to monitor their admission process, and upon report that the monitoring team submitted, the now interdicted heads were invited to explain their actions. They, however, reportedly failed to justify their conducts.

Mr Henry Osei Boateng told The Chronicle that the MOE and GES, as part of efforts to curb challenges associated with prospectus, which sometimes debars students from admission, they introduced the harmonised prospectus to make the admission process easy for parents and guardians.

Unfortunately, he said, some of the headmasters attempted to overlook this directive.

“The Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service are saying that, it is free Senior High School and, therefore, they have come out with harmonised prospectus, where parents are aware of what they are supposed to send to school.

“So any hindrance from the heads, which is outside the prospectus, is something that could prevent the parents from bringing their children to school, which we do not want to happen,” he said.

In view of the above, he noted that regional director, William Kwame Amankra Appiah met with the headmasters and discussed the prospectus issue with them and that they are all aware that nobody should prevent a child from gaining admission.

In a related development, the Bono Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Gabriel Antwi, has interdicted two headmasters in the region, for allegedly charging various unauthorised fees, including ‘borla’ and petrol fees from form one students.

Mr Afi Yaw Stephen, Headmaster of the Berekum Senior High School, in the Berekum Municipality and Mr Joseph Jilinjeh Abudu, Headmaster of the Odomaseman Senior High School in the Sunyani West Municipality, have both been directed to step aside in separate letters by the GES for charging unauthorised fees and selling unauthorised items to new students.

Mr. Afi was accused of charging unauthorised fees, including “Borla” fee – GHc20, Petrol fee -GHc20, Motivation fee – GHc50, Entrance fee – GHc40, PTA fee – GHc300, School Jacket fee – GHc200, Registration fee – GHc80, SRC dues – GHc50, House fee – GHc50 and Lunch bag fee – GHc50.

Mr Jilinjeh Abudu, on the other hand, was accused of charging students the following unauthorized fees; Hymn books fee – GHc45, SRC fee – GHc200, Brown khaki fee – GHc70, Enrollment fee – GHc25, Calculator/Maths set/Graph fees – GHc180, 3 White shirts for males -GHc150, House dues – GH150, House jersey fee – GHc40, Socks fees – GHc40, Files fee – GHc5, Cheque for ladies – GHc80 and Embossment of items – GHc25.

The GES directed the Headmasters to hand over the management and administration of their schools to the various Municipal Directors of education in the interim.

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw & Francis Owusu-Ansah

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