Help reduce financial burden — GIMPA Rector tells SHS heads
The Rector of the Ghana Institute of Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Franklin Manu, has asked heads of public schools to be creative and innovative in the running of their schools to reduce the financial burden of education on the government.
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He said innovative management was the order of the day because it was a fact that government alone could not provide all the resources to address the numerous challenges facing education.
Speaking at the 64th Speech and Prize Giving Day of Prempeh College in Kumasi last Saturday, Prof. Manu, who is an old student of the school, said Prempeh College was a classic example of how management through innovations had brought a lot of progress to the school.
He also advised heads of second cycle schools to find ways of engaging the government on solving challenges facing the schools.
Prof. Manu commended the headmaster and his management, as well as teachers and other staff of the school, for the able manner they had handled its affairs.
The theme for the occasion was “Stakeholders as partners in sustaining the success story of Prempeh College.”
Directive on school projects
The Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mr Kofi Sarfo-Kantanka, who represented the Minister of Education at the ceremony, said the Ministry of Education had directed that, henceforth Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) of public senior high schools (SHSs) could not approve levies for two or more projects at a time.
The decision, he said, was part of efforts to reduce the loads of itemised bills charged students that led to the astronomical increases in fees in second cycle schools, particularly those in the Ashanti Region.
“ It should be one project at a time, which must even be approved by the GES before it can be charged,” he said.
Mr Sarfo-Kantanka said the directives were not an attempt to stifle PTAs in their efforts to address some of the challenges facing the schools.
Touching on how illegal fee hikes and related factors had prevented many children from accessing SHS education, the regional director said in 2012, for instance, about 40,000 Junior High School graduates in the country placed by the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) were unable to continue their education.
“The situation is expected to get worse this year,” he predicted.
Headmaster
The headmaster, Mr E.K. Yeboah, said the age-long impressive academic performance of the school was nearly dented by the results of the last West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), where 140 out of the 1,200 candidates presented could not get admission to any tertiary institution.
He urged parents to monitor the activities of their wards to ensure that they took their studies seriously.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, was represented at the ceremony by the Adontenhene of Kumasi, Nana Adu Gyamfi.
