CHASS urged to maintain neutrality

The National Secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr. Mohammed Ackonu, has appealed to members of the Conference to abide by their neutrality status.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Ekumfi Essarkyir, Mr. Ackonu said as heads of schools, it was dangerous for them to align themselves with political parties.

“We must remain neutral to enable us speak against policies which are not in the interest of the students under our care and the nation in general,” the Secretary said.

He urged the political parties to formulate policies which could promote delivery of quality education in the country.

Mr. Ackonu pointed out that since quality education was the bedrock of development, governments must ensure that they invest in education. He described as unfortunate the tendency to blame school authorities for poor performance of students without considering other factors which go into the delivery of quality education.

“We assure Ghanaians that we will do our best to enhance delivery of quality education to our students, and we urge other stakeholders to play their parts to complement our efforts,” the CHASS Secretary said.

When asked to comment on Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party presidential candidate’s promise to make senior high school education free when voted to power, Mr. Ackonu declined to comment saying, “we are implementers of government policies and do not want to be seen as involving ourselves in partisan politics.

"We can only criticize the policy when we realize after implementing it for some time that it is not in the interest of the students and the nation,” he said.