Birsa South Member of Parliament Dr. Clement Apaak has directed all school principals to abide by the regulations set by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and not to charge unauthorized fees.
He said he agreed with the leadership of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), which called on principals not to intervene in providing logistics and to wait until the government provided them.
“GES, please follow the rules of the game presented by the Ministry. Don’t be a Christmas parent,” he said on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday, December 16.
Earlier, NAGRAT President Angel Carbonneux told all high school principals to enforce the rule that they should not charge unauthorized tuition fees, whatever the reason.
For example, if a school doesn’t have pre-paid detergent or washing powder, the best course of action for principals is to report it and wait for authorities to intervene, he said.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to start the school year with a ban. My position is that if someone owns a school, no matter how legitimate their reasons are, you are not working for someone else. The rules are clear that they don’t charge you in any way, so there are consequences if you don’t charge them in any way.
“…The right thing to do is to report that you don’t have a unit on your prepaid and wait until the authorities provide you with your prepaid.”
Principals of seven high schools in the Ashanti region have been asked to resign after allegedly fraudulently collecting money from candidates placed in their schools.
This is contained in instructions issued by the GES to these principals in a separate letter.
The high schools are: Kumasi Girls, Asanteman, Kumasi, Manso Adubia, Agri Nzema Community, Nkawi, Collins High School.
“Management has been informed that fraudulent monies are being collected as part of the admissions process,” the letter, dated December 8, 2023, to school principals said.
The letter listed the fraudulent monies to be paid. Sewing commemorative cloth, selling house membership fees, selling books, selling calculators, selling commemorative cloth, etc.
Principals were therefore asked to take over immediately.
“Based on the above, you are asked to leave for investigation as provided in the Code of Conduct. You are hereby directed to turn over all school property to the Regional Director of Education, effective December 8, 2023.” GES instructed.