Govt absorbs seven community SHSs in Ashanti
Government has absorbed seven community senior high schools (SHSs) in the Ashanti Region as part of efforts to enhance access to second-cycle education.
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The schools are Ahenkro SHS (Afigya Kwabre District), Ofoase Kokoben SHS (Bekwai Municipality), Sakafiyya Islamic SHS (Asokore Mampong Municipality) and St Mary’s Girls SHS (Asante Akyem Central Municipality).
The rest are Ghana Muslim Mission SHS (Sekyere Central District), Tijanyya Islamic SHS (Asokore Mampong Municipality) and St George’s SHS (Bosomtwe District).
According to the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mr Kofi Sarfo Kantanka, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in an interview, the move was to enhance infrastructure development in the schools and promote quality education.
Concerns by untrained teachers
Following the initiative, the teachers in the seven schools are to be replaced by trained teachers, but that has not gone down well with them and they have threatened to demonstrate against the Ghana Education Service (GES) for not maintaining them in the schools.
They said although it was their wish that their schools would be absorbed by government, the decision not to retain them would impact on their socio-economic lives, due to what they described as limited job opportunities.
A number of the aggrieved teachers of Ahenkro SHS, who marched to the premises of the Afigya Kwabre District Assembly clad in red T-shirts and wearing red arm bands, submitted a petition to the assembly.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Afigya Kwabre, Mr Kaakyire Oppong Kyekyeku, who received the petition, told the aggrieved teachers he would channel their concerns to the appropriate quarters for redress.
Reaction from GES
Reacting to the agitations from the aggrieved teachers, Mr Kantanka said though he shared their plight, none of them could be retained because they were not qualified based on the GES qualification.
He said as untrained teachers, they needed to acquire the requisite training, and advised them to apply to go to the various colleges of education in the country.
He explained that as part of the GES teacher rationalisation exercise, the education directorate, in a letter dated August 20, 2013, stated that recruitment of all categories of staff either teaching or non-teaching in schools had been suspended.