Private schools in Agona West cry for help

The current system where candidates who obtained between aggregates 06 and 50 in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are offered admission into public senior high schools (SHSs) is affecting enrolment in private schools.

Mr Robert Olerty Ossah, the Chairman of the Agona West Private Schools Association, said when the ceiling was aggregate 30, the rest of the candidates with aggregate 30 to 50 were absorbed by the private secondary schools.

He said the current situation had greatly affected enrolment of some private SHSs in the Agona and Gomoa districts of the Central Region.

Mr Ossah said a private secondary school, which he declined to mention the name, had had its total student population reduced drastically from 1,000 to 200 within the past five years.

He said the student population of another school in the Gomoa District had also come down from 600 to 40.

This situation, coupled with others, had made it difficult for the authorities of the schools to honour their tax obligations.

Mr Ossah expressed regret that because of the situation, taxes submitted by the Domestic Tax Revenue under the Ghana Revenue Authority could not be paid.

Mr Frank Bortse Ghartey, the Headmaster of Gomoa Jukwa SDA SHS, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said his school was also affected and that the situation had resulted in the redeployment of some teachers and non-teaching staff.

Meanwhile, the Southern Ghana Conference of the SDA Church of Ghana has set up a committee to decide on the faith of the school.

Pastor Dr Thomas Techie Ocran, the President of the Southern Ghana Conference of SDA, said the school was having serious problems with enrolment due to the current practice.

He appealed to the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service to reconsider the decision to maintain the old aggregates from 06 to 30 to salvage private senior high schools.

He called on the stakeholders in education to adopt policies and programmes that would ensure the effective teaching and learning of the private schools.