Heads of all second cycle institutions in the Northern Region have sent students home indefinitely supposedly due to the non-payment of feeding grants by government.
Some of the heads on condition of anonymity told Citi News government’s failure to reimburse the outstanding feeding grants for three terms necessitated the action.
But a source at the Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service, (GES) disagrees with them.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EcQwgk8xXDoKnD9xkzqlfSHzVQjC38z2″]He said the students have been sent home in compliance with the compulsory mid-terms procedure. He further explained that some of the schools are designated examination centers for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), hence the students’ absence.
Nevertheless, a former Northern Regional Minister, Prince Imoro Andani, has chastised President John Dramani Mahama for the recurring problem.
In a Citi News interview, he said President Mahama, who benefited from the northern free education policy, should bow his head in shame for his inability to fix the problem.
“I think the situation is sad because the President and I are direct beneficiaries of free education in the Northern Region. As we speak today, students from different colleges and secondary schools are forced out of schools because of feeding grants.”
“The three Northern Regions have no future under this government and it has to do with incompetence,” he asserted.
As President Mahama’s secondary school mate, Prince Imoro Andani fumed saying, “For me, it’s surprising because why would a President who hails from the Northern Region and understands the disparity in development gaps between the north and south fail to fix the problem?”
He stated that, “The only way we can bridge that gap is when our children have access to basic education and of course affordable education. Now that we are going through this problem, the implications are that the gap will be further widened and the question is that where is the leadership?”
“If the President who hails from the north is at the helm of affairs and this thing is happening, then I will say comfortably that he is failing us being a son of the region and that goes through his government.”
Government’s priority in northern Ghana misplaced
The former Northern Regional Minister described as a misplaced priority government’s decision to re-asphalt Tamale Township roads.
“Why will you be asphalting a main road when many of our roads within the city are untarred? You can only find a tarred road leading to a minister’s home or an NDC functionary. Is that how we develop?”
He advised government to rather re-channel the resources into the education, health and agriculture sectors.
“The issue really has to do with bad leadership and this is what compels us to talk about competence; because if you have limited resources you manage the resources and cut across all the necessary points and if you are unable to do it, what else can we talk about than incompetence?”
Northern MPs have failed us
He also scolded Members of Parliament from Northern Ghana for doing little to reduce poverty which is endemic in the area.
“Let’s have a focus. The northern leadership is failing us, and for me every Member of Parliament from the Northern Region has a responsibility. You are the law makers, we also have the President and so what are you doing for us from Parliament?”
“So let’s get on the path do the right things and let’s look at necessary things that we have to do that will keep the body and souls moving and not things to gain political points, that’s not what we’re looking for. We are dying of hunger, our children are getting out school and the impression is that the three northern regions have no future under this government.”
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana