Editorial: GES must crack the whip on Saboteurs

The Ghana Education Service (GES) at the commencement of the 2023/2024 academic year took a giant but significant step in the education sector by introducing a harmonised National Prospectus for Senior High and Technical Schools.

The harmonised prospectus offers a clear and consistent set of items for fresh students. It is to help avoid the frustration parents go through in buying different school items for their wards in the various Senior High Schools. The purpose of this innovation is to provide a standardised prospectus for all prospective first-year students, eliminating any opacity regarding their requirements for admission into the various Senior High/Technical institutions.

Under this new system, all schools are expected to adhere to the national prospectus without imposing any additional items beyond what has been officially prescribed. This allows parents to start purchasing the items for their wards even before the WASSCE results and school placements are released. The initiative also ends the era of discretionary powers vested in heads of schools, who demanded varying items and money from parents of first-year students.

This had been one of the setbacks of the government’s Free Senior High School programme. The amount spent and items purchased were dependent on which Senior High School a child was admitted to. It was, therefore, very refreshing when the GES decided to introduce such a comprehensive guide aimed at streamlining the sector for students, parents and educators.

In the Thursday, November 30, 2023 edition of The Chronicle, we published that parents and guardians had welcomed the harmonised prospectus that had been introduced. According to The Chronicle’s report, the parents indicated that apart from the harmonised prospectus eliminating unnecessary items some schools demanded, they also had to go to the schools before obtaining the prospectus. Fortunately for them, all these hassles have been abolished with the introduction of the National Prospectus.

The success of the National Prospectus lies in its effective implementation. School administrators, teachers, parents and students all play crucial roles in ensuring that the aim of the prospectus is achieved to the letter. Regular training sessions for educators and the dissemination of information to parents will contribute to the seamless integration of the prospectus into the education system.

Before 2023 ended, we noticed, with much disdain, reports of alleged unapproved fees some heads of some Senior High Schools were charging, despite the introduction of the National Prospectus. At the last check, these heads of schools have been interdicted by the GES and are being investigated for the alleged perpetration of illegality. It is our hope that the public will be made aware of the outcome of the probe and the sanction, if applicable.

Considering that parents and other stakeholders have wholeheartedly welcomed the harmonised National Prospectus and affirmed that it has cut cost, time and stress for parents and students, GES and its stakeholders can only work to make the initiative better.

In this regard, the work of saboteurs should not be allowed to thrive at the expense of the future of the schoolchildren. We urge parents to support the GES to crack the whip on those who intend to disrupt the smooth implementation of the initiative. Civil Society Organisations, the media, and education unions should help the GES make this work.

The GES must be firm in the implementation of the initiative and should activate all its monitoring channels to pick up regular and accurate feedback to foil the actions of saboteurs and for a possible review of the initiative.

It will be in the interest of the heads of schools, who are putting selfish interests ahead of the national good, to have a renewed sense of purpose going forward.

Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice, according to 1 Samuel 15:22.

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