Senior high schools in N/R to resume today
All government-assisted senior high schools in the Northern Region that went on recess last week are to be reopened today.
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Some of the SHSs the Daily Graphic visited in the Tamale Metropolis last Monday were empty but the Northern Regional Director of Education, Alhaji Mohammed Haroun, said the absence of the students on school compound was not as a result of non-payment of feeding grants, contrary to reports in a section of the media.
Miscommunication
He explained that there was miscommunication between the schools and the students on the date they were to report for academic work, thus leading to the absence of the students in the schools.
He, therefore, indicated the students would be back in school on the reopening date.
Alhaji Haroun also said he held a meeting with the heads last Monday on how to communicate the reopening date to the students and agreed that this should be done through radio announcements and other communication methods to reach out to the students.
Feeding grants
He explained that the government had released about GH¢45,000,000 as feeding grants to all the boarding SHSs in the three regions in the north, and therefore, debunked reports in a section of the media that the schools had been closed down due to the non-payment of the feeding grants by the government.
He said the students went on recess in order to make way for the junior high school students to use their classrooms as examination centres for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) from June 13 to 17.
Situation in some schools
At the Vitting Senior High School, for instance, the school compound was empty with only a few members of staff hanging around. The story was not different at both the Tamale Business College (BISCO) and the Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO).
When asked when his school would reopen, the Headmaster of the Vitting Senior High School, who refused to give his name, said he was not aware of that and angrily directed the reporters to “go to the regional director of education".
However, the Headmaster of the Tamale Business College, who also refused to mention his name, said the school had reopened and that some of the students had reported.