GNAPS appeals to government for support
The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) has appealed to the government to include needy students in private schools in the “Secondary Education Improvement Project”.
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Under the project, the government will provide scholarships to 10,400 students from low-income families, especially girls.
What the scholarship entails
The scholarship will cover the three-year SHS programme and has a budget of the cedi equivalent of $500 per year.
The scholarship includes: school fees, examination fees, transport fare to school, uniforms, house dresses and kits for physical education.
Other items are shoes for school, schoolbags, sanitary pads, exercise and notebooks, as well as relevant school items.
Side-lining of others
The President of GNAPS, Mr Godwin Sowah, said it would be unfair for the government to side-line deprived private school students, especially the females, adding “we have thousands of such children per the selection criteria.”
He said deprived children should not be denied the scholarship on the basis that they attended private school since it was meant to improve the quality of education in selected low-performing senior high schools.
The total amount for the scholarship is US$15 million.
Mr Sowah explained that there were areas in the country where public schools were non-existent and the only schools accessible to students there were private schools.
“If you give exercise books, textbooks, raincoats, sanitary pad and other materials to students in a private school, they do not benefit the school or the proprietors. It is the Ghanaian child who is in the private school that will benefit,” he explained.
He said most of their students met the criteria for the selection of the beneficiaries, which included girls and students from low-income families.
Role of private schools
Mr Sowah also said private schools were playing vital roles in the country’s educational sector, adding that the private sector catered for a greater percentage of students who performed well during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), and wondered why such a sector could not be included in policies being implemented in the educational sector.
There was the need to involve the leadership of the private sector in the formulation of national educational policies, he noted; “otherwise, you are allowing them to do what they should not do.”
“The issue as to whether they are from NPP or NDC or public or private school does not matter. It is about resource development for this country. So let’s join hands to groom all the children we have to help them grow up to be efficient and resourceful persons.” Mr Sowah stressed.
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