WASS stops JHS students from writing exams - For owing exam fees
More than 20 students of the West Africa Senior High School Experimental Junior High School in Accra were prevented from writing the end-of-year examination last Monday morning for owing examination fees.
Advertisement
The students were prevented from writing the English Language and Religious and Moral Studies papers which formed part of the assessment for promotion.
They were billed to pay GHc50 each for the examination but some of them had not made full payment and so they were not allowed to write the examination until they fulfilled that obligation.
When the Daily Graphic visited the school on Monday morning, some of the students who owed had gathered under a tree, while some had gone home.
Students speak
Some of the students told the Daily Graphic that they made some payment in the morning, with the hope that they would be allowed to write the examination, but the Headmistress, Mrs Georgina Danso, announced that she would not allow them to write without full payment.
“The headmistress announced at assembly that anyone who was owing should not go close to the school compound or she would slap that person,” one of the students told the Daily Graphic.
She claimed that she had paid GHc30 and she had gone with GHc10 in the morning with the hope that she would be allowed to write the examination but she was refused.
Another student said she had paid GHc28 but because his father had been sick for some time, he could not work and so could not provide the balance on Monday.
A JHS Two student who sold medicine to take care of himself and his younger siblings said he owed GHc25 and because business was not good, he could not raise the money to offset the bill.
The students expressed the fear that they might not be promoted due because they did not write the examination and called on the authorities to go to their aid.
Reverend Kwadwo Baffoe informed the Daily Graphic about the situation when it came to his attention after one of the students had begged him for GHc2 to pay his fees when he (Rev. Baffoe) was passing by the school.
“I did not understand why a student who was supposed to be in class was outside begging for money. So I enquired more and I realised that most of them had been prevented from writing the examination,” he added.
Headmistress reacts
When the Daily Graphic contacted the headmistress, she denied the claims, saying she did not prevent anybody from writing the examination.
She claimed she had no knowledge of students who owed and had been prevented from writing the examination, saying that nobody came to her to tell her about the debts.
However, she indicated that the GHc50 charge was not for only examination but maintenance as well as extra classes.
It was observed that a teacher called some of the students who had spoken to the Daily Graphic back to the school to write the second paper, which had already started.