CHASS issues communiqu=E9

Bolgatanga, March 27, GNA - The Northern Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) has appealed to Government to settle all outstanding boarding fees, absorbed fees and service grants immediately at the commencement of every academic year to enhance teaching and learning.

It made the appeal in a communiqu=E9 issued and signed by Mr Patrick Tangonyire, Conference Chairman and Mr Fabian Belieb, Upper East Regional Director of Education, in Bolgatanga on Friday at the end of the Ninth Joint Northern CHASS Conference. The communiqu=E9 emphasised that the delay in the release of service grants and outstanding boarding fees was becoming a ritual in schools in the area and affecting the academic performance of students. It urged Government to consider the current increases in the prices of goods and services to adjust upwards the current boarding fees of 80 Ghana pesewas per students per a day.

The communiqu=E9 called on Government to expedite action on the completion of all on-going infrastructure projects in schools in the North as well as provide adequate infrastructure to cater for the increasing number of students enrolled in each academic year. It commended Government for promoting the boarding school system and providing means of transportation to some schools in the area, while others had not benefited and appealed for more vehicles to the rest in Northern Ghana.

The communiqu=E9 said in view of new government policies to encourage teachers to remain in the classroom whilst pursuing courses through Distance Learning and Sandwich programmes, Government should provide sponsorship for such programmes.

It pointed out that with the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a core subject in Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions, Government should provide computer laboratories in the schools equipped with computers for students and teachers to learn.

The communiqu=E9 stressed the need for Ghana Education Service Council to discontinue the centralisation of appointments of Headmasters for Senior High Schools because it contravened Government's decentralisation policy. The conference was under the theme "Boarding School System, an Instrument for Quality Education and Peace in Northern Ghana". 27 March 09