Deputy Minister of Education in-charge Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education Training, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has given the firm assurance that all junior high school students who have passed this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) would be given schools to attend under the government’s ‘Free Senior High School’ education policy.
The deputy minister, who gave the assurance yesterday at an emergency press conference at the ministry, said there is no need for parents to panic, as the deadline given by the ministry was only a way of speeding up the admission process to enable the first-year students to start the first term on time.
He said previously when a new academic year began, parents struggled to get admissions for their children into senior high schools, and the process could take the whole of the first term and so students could only report the next term in January.
And so effectively the students spent two years in school since the final West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) also begins in February every year.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has asked parents and guardians who still have problems in finding schools for their children and wards to contact the ministry via 0302707778 or on WhatsApp: 0207407499 for any direction or assistance.
He explained that because of the rush in accessing information on schools for the students via the internet, the ministry’s server had been overwhelmed and therefore the process had been a bit slow.
He said the ministry has now acquired new servers and a back-up to help speed up the process.
He asked parents and prospective SHS students to continue to use the internet to access all information they want on school placements or could also go to any branch of National Institute of Information and Technology (NIIT) for any assistance since the ministry has entered into an agreement with the Institute to help in that direction.
He also announced that everything had been put in place for the smooth take-off of the free SHS policy, adding that it is going to be absolutely free and so no parent should pay for anything when their children are going to school.
According to the deputy minister, the substantive Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, had met with the various headmasters and headmistresses on several occasions on the smooth implementation of the policy and also to know the challenges that they would encounter as a result of the implementation of the policy.
Dr Osei Adutwum said levies imposed by the various Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) of the schools ought to be sanctioned by the ministry, adding that the payment does not have to be binding, but rather the willingness and ability to pay.
Students whose parents and guardians are not able to pay would not be prevented from taking part in school activities and programmes.
The deputy minister added that the government had made all the efforts to supply enough textbooks to the schools for smooth teaching and learning and that for the next two or three years the supply of all the necessary textbooks has been catered for.
