Headteachers alone cannot dismiss SHS students – GES Director

Dismissal of students at the Senior High School (SHS) level is an action that should not be taken by the headteacher alone, the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education has indicated.

Such action, according to Dr (Mrs) Hilda Eghan, “is a major disciplinary issue that must be brought to the Board of Governors to determine the kind of sanctions that must apply, within the general guidelines of the Ghana Education Service (GES).”

Similarly, major disciplinary issues involving teachers must be deliberated upon by schools’ management and their Boards of Governors, so headteachers do not take such decisions unilaterally.

Dr Eghan cited the above examples on Tuesday, in her address at the inauguration of a new Board of Governors for the Tema Manhean Senior Technical School (STS) in Accra.

She stated that the roles and functions of school administrations were distinct from those of their Boards of Governance, and as such, each should “try and stay their lane.”

However, Dr Eghan disclosed, “we have had occasions where conflicts have arisen between the school Boards and the management. In some schools, the Boards want to even infringe on the functions of the headteacher, and that really causes problems.””

Touching on the function, Dr Eghan indicated that the Board of Governors was “responsible for the initiation of school policies which, of course, must be done within the general framework of education policies.”

Also, it “advises the school with the objective of ensuring that it operates within the general framework of educational policies, and that everything works well within the school as an institution.”

On the other hand, Dr Eghan stated that, the day-to-day disciplinary issues, such as lateness by students, were to be handled by the administration, headed by the headteacher.

She, therefore, advised school Boards and administrations to be guided in their work by the G.E.S Constitution (i.e. Education Act of 1961, Act 87). “In a normal school setting, we have the head, we have the assistants, we have students. Now increasingly, we are having high enrolments.

“It is not easy at all managing these our children, and so we need the Board of Governors, as well as the PTAs to actually assist and support the school administration so that we can have sanity in our schools, and above all development,” Dr Eghan quipped.

She explained that, the concept of Boards was to ensure community participation in the administration of schools, hence the diversity in the composition of its membership.

“So, that is why we’ll have the PTA chair, the District Assembly, old students, representative of the GES Director-General, teachers’ rep, traditional council, etc, as members,” she said.

The Tema Metropolitan Director of Education, Mrs. Margaret Nsiah-Asamoah, charged the members of the Tema Manhean Senior Technical School Board to approach their work with diligence, to position the school among the best in the region.