Schools collecting illegal levies will be sanctioned

Cape Coast, Oct.25, GNA - Ms Veronica Fry-Annan, Cape Coast Municipal Director of Education on Monday warned authorities of basic schools within the municipality that those who impose levies on pupils would be sanctioned.

She said the Government's Capitation grant was instituted for fees and levies to be paid by pupils to promote education.

"The Municipal Directorate of Education would deal severely with recalcitrant basic school authorities," She added.

Ms Fry-Annan, gave the warning in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Cape Coast, following reports that authorities of some basic schools were, asking pupils to pay 500 cedis and 1,000 cedis daily for extra classes to be conducted for primary and Junior Secondary School (JSS) students.

The Municipal Director pointed out that several workshops and seminars had been organised to sensitize school authorities on the grant, rules and regulations on its operations adding, "no one has an excuse to violate them."

Ms Fry-Annan however, explained that parents could among themselves decide to contribute money to finance a school project or engage the teachers to run extra classes for their children. "All levies introduced by parents must strictly be their own affair and no headteacher or teacher should be involved directly or indirectly in the collection of such monies from the pupils," she emphasized. She warned that under no circumstance should pupils be sent home because their parents had failed to pay levies for school projects or extra classes.

Ms Fry-Annan appealed to parents and residents within the Municipality to report to the Directorate any school authorities collecting levies from pupils. 25 Oct.05.