The annual ritual is here. Senior high schools in the three northern regions will not reopen when schools reopen on Monday, January 13,2014.
The reason is that the government owes them feeding fees and subsidies.
The Northern Regional President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Alhaji Tahiru Abdul-Rahman Mahama, says the feeding subsidies are in arrears for two terms, explaining that “we have not received our feeding subsidies for the third term of the 2012/2013 academic year and the first term of the 2013/2014 academic year.”
Obviously, the ends are competing for the limited means which is why the government has challenges in meeting its statutory obligations.
Nonetheless, we think the situation cannot be allowed to persist, especially in the education sector that moulds the characters of our future leaders.
Although education is considered a fundamental right that must be enforced to give access to all children of school-age, it appears to us that the problem is not limited to the three northern regions but a national one as all the senior high schools are faced with how to cater for the students.
The government knows the implications of its failure to meet its obligations as the students will not be able to continue their education.
Meanwhile, since education is the bedrock of any society, it will not be out of place for the sector to be accorded the needed priority attention.
Anxiety has begun to build up in the students, and parents are equally worried because their children will not be able to continue their education for the simple reason that the schools have run out of cash.
We ought to remember that the government is making sacrifices to provide quality and accessible education to the people, and parents, religious bodies and the communities are also contributing to build the education infrastructure.
The Daily Graphic thinks that this feeding fees arrears palaver must be resolved now to free the hands of heads of senior high schools to run the schools more effectively.
When the government delays in paying feeding fees to the schools, the heads of the schools are unable to stay in their offices as food contractors and their suppliers come after them.
Many of the schools, if not all, owe food contactors and their inability to pay according to schedule will compel the food suppliers to cut credit to the schools as is the case for some schools now.
The Daily Graphic is calling on the government to, as a matter of urgency, settle the arrears of the senior high schools so that they can run an uninterrupted academic session.
Standards in our schools are falling and it is for this reason that nothing should be done to aggravate the situation.
The heads of schools are already complaining that the arrears have affected the effective administration of the schools across the country.
We, therefore, call on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to give what is due to the schools to enable them to educate our children.
