Harassment and embarrassment of St. Rose’s SHS students: Attention Minister of Education and Director General of GES

"Water: PTA, Food: PTA, Science Lab: PTA, School Building: PTA! We pay taxes, too! We pay for lots of things in Ghana. We shouldn't keep quiet. This is not political. This is not partisan politics. This is not party politics. If the school authorities are not living up to expectations, we should point it out to them. Everything is directed at the PTA. We have a responsibility, which I agree. But all the responsibilities should not be shifted to the PTA. Enough of the issues with the head of PTA."

"Under the same torrential rain, some were also asked not to enter the school until they cut down their hair. Are they under slavery? Poor souls. God will judge anyone behind this. And no one should dare vent his/her anger or touch my child because we are voicing out."

These are some of the anguish lamentations of parents whose wards are in their final year at "my once beloved" St. Rose's SHS. Over the past few days, I've had persistent calls and messages from friends and colleagues whose daughters are in their final year at St. Rose's SHS.

Even though I've been reluctant to write on this matter, listening to some audio messages of anguish parents lamenting is rather disheartening. And the fear of victimisation is making it difficult for parents to confront the school management over the issues.

Since when has it become the responsibility of parents (PAs) to pay the salaries of teachers? Has GES really given approval to the PA of St. Rose's SHS to recruit as many as six (6) teachers, with plans to add more, and for the PA (parents) to bear responsibilities for their salaries until GES does recruitment to absorb these teachers?

And how could the management of St. Rose’s find it appropriate to paste the names of students whose parents owe PA levies in their classrooms? Why subject the young girls to such humiliation? Below are samples of messages posted by the PA (PTA) executives on the PA WhatsApp platform:

Good day to you, dear parents. We want to use this opportunity to thank all parents for their support of the education of our queens. Presently, the PTA is paying 12,000 cedis to the six teachers hired per month. We just paid for April. This is what we have done for the past six months to make sure we help provide quality education to our wards. Please try to pay your lump sum so we can continue to serve our wards better. We don’t want any future blame on PTA or the school.

GES is aware of our intervention and is very grateful for what we are doing. We may be adding one or two more to step in the gap since others are still leaving. The PTA is determined to support our wards and the school to achieve the best results ever going forward. We have a promise from the regional director to maintain these teachers for us as soon as the portal is opened, and this is relieving and assuring to all of us. There is still hope. Please keep praying for this to happen very soon. We will not settle for anything less than excellence. This is one of the reasons we are asking that you pay your lump sum on time to help us maintain the wonderful teachers we have for the queens.

Lump Sum Payment of 500 cedis PTA:

Parents are to pay the PTA LUMP SUM to this number: *0598936911. *ST. ROSE'S SHS PTA THIRD YEAR. Parents should use their ward's name and class as references. Example: DOE-DARTEY BESS EDUDZI, *3A1. PTA Financial Secretary.

Good evening, parents. This is to inform you that PTA has received the invoice for conducting mock exams for our queens in the final year. The invoice is in excess of 80,000 GHC, but the PTA is negotiating to reduce the bill. The said bill will be financed by the lump sum paid by parents. In order to successfully organise the mock, all final-year students are to pay their lump sum before the commencement of the mock.

Please be advised that any final-year student who fails to settle the lump sum before the mock commencement date will not be allowed to sit, according to PTA executives.

This is to all form 3 parents who have not made any payments at all. Your queen will not be cleared when they are complete. Please make arrangements to start paying. Thank you for understanding and helping to make things better. Remember, we are paying the teachers we brought for the sake of all the queens. Thank you and God bless you all.

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Dear Parents, Registration of students for WASSCE 2024 has started. government will pay the Registration fee for all candidates in Ghana. Parents are, however, required to pay an overhead cost for passport photographs, albums, and processing. This will be at a cost of GHs 100.00. Kindly pay the said amount to the PTA Momo line. Thank You. PTA CHAIRMAN

Good morning to you, dear parents. The PTA tasked a 5-member committee made up of parents and chaired by the PTA secretary to come up with modalities to eradicate bedbugs from St. Roses. Good news! We have spoken to the Eastern Regional Business Manager of Zoomlion on the issue of Zoomlion. She has promised to send her team to the school for assessment, so PTA will just buy the chemicals and they will do the fumigation for free. I will contact our headmistress and give you the feedback soon. Have a great weekend.

Good evening, dear parents. SMS has been sent to parents with outstanding arrears in Form 1A1, and Form 1B1 will follow soon. Please contact the financial secretary at 0542498146 on WhatsApp if you have any issues with your outstanding balance. Thank you. PTA EXECUTIVES.

It is noteworthy that the recently published GES guidelines for the operations of PAs permit PAs to undertake projects for the development and growth of their respective schools. For this reason, St. Rose’s PA has undertaken many projects, including:

Retooling of Science laboratories

Rebuilding a broken fence wall

Enhancement of lighting system

Provision of food

Teacher motivation

The GES guideline also states on pages 6 and 7 that "no student shall be responsible for the actions and inactions of any member of the PA or the PA as a body."

The GES guidelines further explain that "no student shall be linked to activities of the PA either through the school or his/her parents/guardians."

However, the current happenings at St. RoseSHS, where the PA executives, in connivance with the school authorities, have been harassing the students for their parent’s inability to pay PA levies, are instances of contraventions of the GES guidelines. The students now face constant harassment for unpaid PA dues. Apart from pasting lists of students whose parents have not paid the PA levies in full in classrooms, students have to endure threats such as:

You will not write the mock if you have not paid in full

You will not be cleared upon completion of the school

You will not be allowed to leave the school if you do not pay in full

These actions and threats from the PA and the school authorities are in clear contravention of provisions in the GES guidelines. Among the myriad of other issues that parents are lamenting about on the PA WhatsApp platform are:

Locking up toilets and bathrooms a day before vacation.

Seizures of meals (food) brought from home and throwing them away. A student is permitted to bring only a loaf of bread. If a student brings more than a loaf, the excess is collected and thrown away.

Video of students' bags in the open during a heavy downpour on a re-opening day. Besides the many PTA levies that the Form Three parents have been saddled with, they had to buy new uniforms for their wards as the Form 3s use a different uniform. Meanwhile, they bought uniforms in Form 1.

In summary, here is another lamentation from a disturbed parent:

I don’t believe any parent is against discipline. When genuine concerns are expressed, please let no one downplay them to make those of us expressing them feel that we are dramatizing things. The girls are going through their own various emotional states at this period of their lives, both social and academic. At this point, we will think all they think about is eating and sleeping, and they do not care. They do.

Recently, a good friend was called to her daughter’s school, only to be informed that her daughter was contemplating suicide. Why at that young age? Her reasons were that she was pressured in school and at home. If any parent here had a ward in Wegeyhey in the early 2000s, you can attest to the fact that most of the girls ended up having fits and epilepsy. So the neurologist at Korle-Bu had to step in at the school. All because they felt stressed and pressured.

Some of us, unfortunately, are still trying to cope with those horrors. It has become permanent. Let us not downplay their mental health, please. So in all those instances, some parents voiced out: Is that discipline?

Locking bathrooms and toilets a day before vacation—is that discipline? Calling girls fools and stupid—is that discipline? Going around shining touches into the eyes of the girls at night to ascertain whether they are asleep—would you call that discipline? I can go on and on.

St. Rose's mental health is real.

May I humbly call on the honourable Minister of Education and the Director General of GES to look into the matters raised and bring the PA executives and the school management to order so as to give the students peace of mind as they prepare for their final examination? I am in possession of several voice-audio messages of anguish parents lamenting their plights and dissatisfaction with the PA executives and the school management.