GES hot over SHS shutdown

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has reacted swiftly to threats by the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) not to reopen schools for the 2016-2017 academic year unless government settles outstanding debts owed them (schools).

Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Jacob Kor, Director General of GES, said CHASS does not have the authority not to reopen schools for the next academic year.

According to him, the authority to close down schools lies solely with the Minister of Education, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, stating, “GES management wants to remind all heads of second cycle schools that the authority to reopen and close down any public school lies only with the Minister of Education.”

CHASS Problems

CHASS President, Cecilia Kwakye Coffie, catalogued a myriad problems affecting teaching and learning in second cycle schools in the country to the media in Accra on Wednesday.

She said that the government had failed to live up to its responsibilities.

According to CHASS, the heads of the senior high schools had reached a breaking point where “if nothing is done as a matter of urgency, education in the second cycle schools in Ghana will suffer greatly.”

Chief among the challenges, she said, was the issue of unpaid absorbed fees and feeding grants for the second and third terms of the 2015/2016 academic year at the time the NDC government was planning to introduce free SHS for boarders.

GES Shifts Blame

Responding to the claims by CHASS, Mr. Kor

said the untimely release of subsidies and grants were partly due to the lackadaisical attitude of some heads of SHSs regarding the submission of data on students.

“I have the list of schools that have not submitted data we are processing now. How do we process some and leave others? I will query all those heads who as at now have not submitted the data for the processing of the subsidy,” Mr. Kor said.

“If heads have not submitted information that was requested for long ago, and others did so as late as July 14, how do they expect the accounts section to perform magic and just send out the money all of a sudden.”

CHASS Issues

Addressing the issues raised by CHASS, Mr. Kor said the GES management had received a request from CHASS to increase the feeding fee from GH¢3.30 per student per day to a higher figure, and that the GES had taken a decision on that request which would be taken care of at the beginning of the new academic year.

“In the 2015/2016 academic year, only one term of SHS/TVET subsidy and Progressively Free SHS is outstanding and are currently being processed for payment.”

He said government was committed under the Social Intervention Programme (SIP) to pay basic schools Capitation Grants, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) subsidies, as well as SHS/TVET subsidies.

On the capitation grant, he said, “GHC16.5 million has been paid for the third term of the 2014/2015 academic year, and the first term of the 2015/2016 academic year,” adding that the arrears were being processed for payment.

The GES head said GHC17.2 million had been paid for the second term of the 2015/2016 academic year, and that “only the third term is currently outstanding and is being processed for payment before the end of the term.”

For the SHS subsidy, he said GHC23.5 million had been paid for the first term of the 2015/2016 academic year.

“As of the time CHASS went to present their press release without consultation with management, an amount of GHC23.4 million meant for the payment of subsidy for the second term was ready for disbursement to the schools.”

Touching on the feeding grant, he indicated that GHC2.0 million had been paid while payment of Special Schools feeding grant for the third term was being processed for payment by the end of the term.

“As of July 14, 2016, the government had released GHC45,088,380, $2,808,758.04 and 283,608.00 Euros for the outstanding scholarship claims. These are second-year claims for third term of the 2015/2016 academic year – air tickets for special language students, bilateral awards/year abroad and bilateral awards tenable in Germany,” he said.

Mr. Kor stated: “In this world everybody owes or is indebted and as such, the government should not be seen as the only one which owes. Government is not the only panacea to all educational problems.”