This follows a directive by the Ghana Education Service (GES), to heads of public Senior High Schools to charge final year students only half of the third term fees for the 2017/2018 academic year.

The General Secretary of CHASS, Reverend Abraham Osei Donkor, said: although bills have been given out to students, heads of schools would comply with the new directive and refund the excess fees to students.

“The directive is unambiguous. I don’t think it will create any problem. They are starting the exams on the 3rd of April. For most schools, especially the boarding house, the students are in residence. The Director-General said in the event students will stay in the school, we have to calculate the number of weeks they will stay and add it to it. That is what all the heads will do. They’ll work it out; where we need to refund, we will refund to the parents.”

The Ghana Education Service [GES] last Thursday said the directive was because the students, who will be sitting for the 2018 WASSCE examinations will spend only seven weeks in school instead of the full 14 weeks.

The Director-General of the GES, Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, said: “It is expected that the Regional Directors should ensure strict compliance with this directive.”

The memo indicated that adjustments would be made if students are prepared to stay through the Easter vacation.

“In the instance where the final year students will be asked to stay in school during the current holidays or will re-open on 16th April 2018, the fees should be adjusted to reflect the number of weeks they will be spending in school,” it said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The school was closed down last week after pollution from a Chinese company, Shinefeel Ghana Limited, sited close by the school, made it unbearable for both students and teachers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Q0KZ1iC2ooiT9YrV5Qg25V4JsNSf53yv”]The Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], on Tuesday, shut down the plastic processing unit of the company, following reports by Citi FM.

Baaba Yankey told Citi News that the school will not hesitate to sound the alarm bell should the company breach EPA’s directive.

“We are reopening today. Members of Staff are happy about the situation. For now, we wait to see whatever will happen.. If we have the cause to worry again, we’ll definitely talk again,” she said.

‘Why the school closed down’

The over 1,200 students of the school including beneficiaries of the government’s Free SHS program were last week asked to go home, a decision management took to protect them from the health hazards of the activities of the factory, Shine Feel Ghana Limited.

The headmistress told Citi News the decision was taken because they could no longer endure the harmful smoke emitted by the factory.

She lamented that, the pollution from the company had worsened such that they had no option than to send the students home.

“The students agitated that because of the smoke they could not stay. The boy’s dormitory and the classroom block are close to the factory. Since Tuesday the stench and the smoke which for some time now has subsided erupted again. Ghana Education Service is very much aware of the situation,” she added in a Citi News interview.

‘EPA closure’

Following reports by Citi News on the matter, the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], ordered the shut down of the plastic processing unit of the company.

This was after a trip to the facility by a three-man team of the EPA from Accra.

After a site tour, the EPA team concluded that, the plastic unit plant was not observing standards. Furthermore, the EPA said the company had no permit to process plastics, and was thus to shut down till a permit is issued.

“The fact of the matter is that, they are permitted to do the paper aspect of the operations. They may have been permitted for a plastic operation in Accra, but not for Asutsuare. On record, we don’t have that,” Executive Director in charge of Technical at the EPA, Ebenezer Sampong told Citi News.

Mr. Sampong indicated that, this was not the first time they were dealing with this issue as prior complaints had been made in relation to noise and the emissions.

But he added that “from our interaction with the teachers, it appears that the problem rests more with the plastic operations. So that is where we are going to focus our attention on.”

We’ll adhere to EPA’s directives – Shinefeel company

Shortly after the directive, managers of the Shinefeel Ghana Company Limited said they will comply with it.

The factory’s manager, John Dziwornu, told Citi News “as a responsible organization, we operate within the law so we’ll act on it [the EPA directive].”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a release issued on Tuesday by the District Director of Education, Isaac Godwin Kwesi Acquaah-Arhin, the headteacher, who is believed to be in his forties confessed to the Education Directorate on January 19, that he was indeed the one in the video.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Pw73ffDoAod9YnyLYE6CbVq028tSGORN”]It also says the head teacher pleaded to be forgiven for his conduct, but he was instead ordered to report to the office to hand over his responsibility to the circuit supervisor, to enable him assist the police in their investigations.

The Directorate further noted that, the meeting with the head teacher came shortly after the office met the girl in the video, Priscilla Tettey, in the presence of the Assistant Headmaster of Odoben Senior High School, where she is a student.

The release says she confessed she was a former student Breman Adamanu D/A Basic School, and that she and the head teacher have been in a relationship for some time.

Again, the Directorate says she admitted that she and the head teacher agreed to film their sexual act.

However, a brother of the lady found the video on her memory chip after he took her phone to transfer some songs.

“Other friends of her brother also saw the video and they decided to spread it because they had proposed love to her and she refused,” an update from the Service on Tuesday explained.

According to the Directorate, it has set up a two member committee to probe the matter, while Mr. Seppey is to meet the District Education Disciplinary Committee for appropriate sanctions.

The head teacher is believed to be hiding somewhere, making it difficult for the police to carry out with their investigation.

As a further step, a team of officers led by the District Director of Education, met the community leaders and the Assembly Member of the area, as well as the girl’s parents on Monday to address the issue.

The release explained that, “The community members as well as the father of the girl told the District Director of Education and his team that they have no problem with the head teacher or teachers of the basic school, and have no intentions of harming them”.

Police chase 3 for leaking sex video of headmaster and 18-yr old girl

Meanwhile, the Central Regional Police Command says it is looking for the three young men who allegedly leaked the sex tape and widely circulated it on social media.

According to the police, the three are Bright Abdulai, Joe and Felix Quarm, all residents of Breman Adumanu in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District of the Central Region.

The police say the three will be charged with publication or sale of an obscene material.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Regional Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police, ASP Irene Serwa Oppong, the girl in the video has in her statement to the police, accused the three of circulating the content.

The police have also in their statement, indicated that they have traced the alleged girl, Priscilla Tettey, to her school, Agona Odoben SHS where she is a final year student.

According to the police, she has revealed in her statement that she was born in 1999, making her an eighteen (18) year old girl, and that she and the head teacher, Robert Seppey, have been lovers for some time.

Headteacher not charged with any crime

When Citi News contacted ASP Serwaa Oppong, she explained that the head teacher has not been charged with any crime.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The submission of the returns is to ensure the disbursement of additional funds for the feeding and the general upkeep of students in the various schools.

[contextly_sidebar id=”68I1bl4glkjrDBbjxpsyPQKMIETCdr9g”]According to the GES, only 117 Headteachers have filed their returns out of the over 500 schools which received funds in November 2017.

Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the GES, Cassandra Twum-Ampofo, said that the Service intends to crack down on the Heads who fail to submit their returns by the end of the week.

She added that the GES will sanction any headteacher who fails to heed the directive as any further delays in the submission of the returns would prevent the timely disbursement of funds to those schools, ultimately affecting the students negatively.

“If you do not submit the returns by Friday then I’m afraid you are telling us that you don’t want to obey simple instructions and we would have to also go through the necessary administrative processes and find out why. There are sanctions though, a number of them, but it’s not limited to moving a headmaster or headmistress,” she said.

“We do not want the negligence of any heads to affect the students, so we have given them up to 5:00pm on Friday to submit their returns. If you do not submit the returns, then you are telling us that you are ready to face any sanctions thereof. We’ll not take it lightly at all” she noted.

‘Crackdown on Heads’

Since the introduction of the Free SHS policy, a number of headteachers have been sanctioned for various acts which were seen to be contrary to the directives of the policy.

Two head teachers were transferred in September 2017 for allegedly charging illegal fees under the free SHS programme.

The headteacher of La PRESEC, Samuel Salamat was one of those transferred after similar claims were made against him.

Observers have described the strict enforcement of the policy’s modalities as an attempt by the government to ensure that the programme does not face any challenges which could derail its implementation.

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By: Felicia Osei  & Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Ministry recently received clearance from the Finance Ministry to replace, recruit and re-appoint 22,802 teaching and non-teaching staff for the 2017/2018 academic year in first and second cycle institutions across the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”yzwDjlSkfLRFE8hXQUpR5pXPaZaGqZLT”]But the Public Relations Officer for the Distance Education Students, David Fianu, said their checks indicate that none of their members has been recruited, a situation he said has created a huge backlog of unemployed distance education graduates.

“Our question is on what grounds are they also saying that those who obtained their certificates by distance and sandwich will not be considered. We want to get an explanation of that statement. We don’t understand why they want to limit recruitment to only college students. The letter we had was that there was a limited recruitment for teaching staff. And in that letter they stated that candidates who obtained their certificates by distance and sandwich will not be considered.”

“Now we felt bad because the University of Cape Coast sets questions for college students.  The same university is preparing people from the distance programme. It means that we all get the same experience and all the necessary skills they need in the teaching field. So why will the Ghana Education Service now limit recruitment to only college students? That is our concern,” he added.

DESAG further charged the Ministry to explain the format it used for the recruit exercise.

We can’t employ more public sector workers

This comes on the back of government’s revelation that it can’t employ more public sector workers.

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, who made the disclosure in August 2017, said government does not have the capacity to employ more public servants.

“The public sector is full in terms of employment, [and] we can’t employ anybody in the public sector,” he said.

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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Distance education students angry over ‘selective’ recruitment appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Association said it continues to receive complaints from teachers that they were being compelled to fill a “weaver of T and T” form to go on transfer, while they had not made any request to be transferred.

The situation GNAT viewed as a blatant violation of the collective agreement and the regulations governing transfers, adding that “transfers must be done with all humility and fairness”.

[contextly_sidebar id=”NMrMMZhnKQVT3ynjrnoLDv4ZuGuvbrxG”]Consequently, GNAT has sounded a word of caution to the GES to desist from such practices because it could amount to huge judgment debt.

Mr William Abedi Boadu, Central Regional Secretary of GNAT, who expressed these sentiments in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, advised that in the expected transfers, GES should ensure that funds are secured to pay the legitimate entitlements of the affected teachers to bring about a smooth exercise.

He said while the employer had the right to deploy employees to where their services were most needed, employees’ right to claim their legitimate entitlements should not be stifled.

“Ambiguous statements like ‘T and T’ to be borne by the teacher and re-imbursed as and when funds are available as stated in most of the transfer letters are not acceptable. The rights thing must be done. Directors must respect the regulations governing transfers,” he said.

Mr. Boadu said GNAT had received summon letters from lawyers of affected teachers, stating that the transfers of their clients were not done in good faith, describing the trend as “worrying”.

He said the concerns raised by GNAT followed previous failure by the GES to pay teachers legitimate entitlements.

He advised teachers to take advantage of the system opportunities to empower themselves to be able to fight for their rights.

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Source: GNA

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According to the Ministry the decision was taken not because Mr. Salamat spoke to the media, but for charging unapproved fees under the government’s free Senior High School education policy.

Mr. Salamat has been transferred to the head office of the Ghana Education Service.

The school was recently in the news for allegedly levying fresh students about GHs 80, to purchase plastic chairs to be used due to the poor state of the existing ones.

Citi News’ visit to the school few weeks after the earlier report, saw the first year students sitting on cement blocks and wooden planks.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nZk0E0TIGk3jZQLLPsxOy50GIMTljMK1″]Mr. Slamat was interdicted over the issue, and subsequently transferred to the Ghana Education Service head office in Accra.

Earlier reports suggested that Mr. Salamat was transferred because his action was seen as sabotage of government’s much hyped free SHS education policy and for speaking to the media.

But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, a Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum explained that, the La Presec headmaster “was transferred based on what he did and not speaking to the media.”

“If you are charging fees you want parents to pay, of course not, it’s not approved. We’ve given you resources and you have development levy which is contributions that were supposed to be made by parents. If you need anything, you can use part of the development levy to do that. Why do you have to go to the parents and ask them to pay something that the government has already paid? Nobody condones any behaviour or whatsoever that will punish any headmaster for talking to the media,” he added.

McDan CEO to rescue La Presby students

The Cheif Executive Officer of McDan Shipping, Daniel Makorley, put smiles on the faces of students of the school after he donated 100 desks to them.

According to McDan Shipping, the delivery was part of the first batch of the entire package promised the school.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post La PRESEC head transferred for charging ‘illegal’ fees – Deputy Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Salamat has been transferred to the head office of the Ghana Education Service for asking parents to pay GHc80 to procure plastic chairs for first year students, who had benefited from government’s free Senior High School education policy.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1Aq3pA0T36HK04f8Gyf57zu93gSMzdiO”]Earlier reports suggested that, he was transferred because his action was seen as sabotage of government’s much-hyped free SHS education policy, and for speaking to the media about the school’s challenges.

But clarifying the issue on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, a Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum explained that Mr. Salamat was transferred not because he spoke to the media.

He said, “If you are charging fees you want parents to pay, of course not, it’s not approved. We’ve given you resources and you have development levy which is contributions that were supposed to be made by parents. If you need anything, you can use part of the development levy to do that. Why do you have to go to the parents and ask them to pay something that the government has already paid? Nobody condones any behaviour or whatsoever that will punish any headmaster for talking to the media,” he added.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the incoming President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, argued that such transfers will make headteachers numb.

“What is going to happen is that, a lot of head teachers will be numbed and they will sit on the fence. They will not talk to anyone, they will not expose their problems and challenges to anyone, they will not get help, and at the end of the day, it is our boys and girls whom we have sent to school that will be suffering. If Mr. Salamat has been transferred because of the exposé at La PRESEC we are very unhappy about that, and want that transfer reversed,” Mr. Carbonu said.

Mr. Salamat had earlier been interdicted together with 18 other headmasters of second cycle schools nationwide for charging unapproved fees during the initial stages of the free SHS policy in September 2017.

Mr. Carbonu said such actions are not good for the running of government owned educational institutions the country.

“You will realize that because of the announcement that 19 head teachers have been interdicted, all heads of schools, I can assure you, have gone into the state of comatose…and that when you go there to find out about normal issues, they would not want to talk else they are transferred or victimized. If we push education to that level, we are all going to suffer for it,” he added.

Plight of La PRESEC students

The La PRESEC school was recently in the news for allegedly levying fresh students about GHs 80 to purchase plastic chairs to be used by the students due to the deplorable state of the existing ones.

The action generated public criticism with many accusing the headmaster, Samuel Salamat, of sabotaging the government’s Free SHS policy, but when Citi News visited the school, the situation was indeed dire.

Students spent the day seated on cement blocks and wooden boards due to the non-existence of desks in the school.

The situation, which was highlighted by the Citi News’ Anass Seidu attracted the CEO of McDan Shipping Company, Daniel Makorley, to donate 100 desks as a first tranche of donations to improve the school’s learning infrastructure.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Reverse La PRESEC headmaster’s transfer – NAGRAT appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The headmaster of the school, Samuel Salamat, is said to have been transferred to the Curriculum Research of Development Division (CRDD) at the Headquarters of the Ghana Education Service (G.E.S) in Accra.

[contextly_sidebar id=”BFgSB04x24E6MtrIF6BvxyznFfdqPGDA”]The transfer, an apparent punishment to Mr. Salamat, followed a stern warning issued to him by the Ministry of Education not to reveal challenges the school was being confronted with to the media.

Citi News in September 2017, reported that effective teaching and learning was being hampered at the La Presby Senior High School, as beneficiaries of government’s Free Senior High School program were forced to study in uncompleted buildings without marker boards and desks.

Students spent the day seated on cement blocks and wooden boards, due to the absence of desks in the school.

The situation, which was highlighted by the Citi News’ Anass Seidu attracted the CEO of McDan Shipping Company, Daniel Makorley, to donate 100 desks as a first tranche of donations to improve the school’s  infrastructure.

Ahead of the donation, the headmaster of the school lamented that the donation was going to see him being reprimanded by the Ministry.

GH¢80 levy

The school was recently in the news for allegedly levying fresh students about GHs 80, to purchase plastic chairs to be used by the students due to the deplorable state of the existing ones.

The action generated public criticism with many accusing the headmaster, Samuel Salamat, of sabotaging the government’s Free SHS policy, but when Citi News visited the school on Monday morning, the situation was indeed dire.

The Headmaster, Samuel Salamat, was subsequently invited by Ministry of Education to explain circumstances that led to him demanding the levy from parents.

He however continued to serve as the Headmaster of the school until he was transferred for allowing the media to cover issues in the school.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GES ‘removes’ La PRESEC headmaster appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The council on Wednesday held an emergency meeting to deliberate on the reports and establish the veracity of the allegations and the way forward.

As of the time of filing this report, the meeting was still in session.

Before the meeting got underway, the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, had warned of severe sanctions against any head of a second-cycle school who would be found charging first-year students any fees before offering them admission.

“I can assure you that those who have done that without any authorisation will be sanctioned; I can firmly assure you,” he told the media in Accra.

He could not tell the number of headmasters involved in such acts but said the GES had been receiving reports that some headmasters were asking first-year students to pay some unauthorised fees.

He said reports also suggested that some headmasters had directed students to go to some specific stores to purchase certain basic items.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said it was wrong for headmasters to insist that first-year students come along with a number of some basic items such as bed sheets.

He hinted that the GES was taking note of all those headmasters involved in such acts and would deal with them appropriately.

He said the free SHS programme was free and students or their parents should not be tasked to pay any money, adding that any parent who was tasked to pay any money should contact the GES for immediate action.

PTA dues

On parent-teacher association (PTA) dues, he said schools could not ask first-year students to pay PTA dues “because PTA dues are fixed when parents meet the school authorities to determine what kind of help they (parents) can give to the school”.

He said it was, therefore, wrong for any school to ask first-year students to pay PTA dues when they had not yet stepped foot on the school compound.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa hinted that the collection of illegal school fees, the insistence on the payment of PTA dues, among other illegalities, would be discussed by the GES Council and a statement issued to that effect.

Heads turning prospective students away

On heads of SHSs refusing to admit prospective students reporting at their schools for registration, on the grounds that their names were not on the list, the director-general asked headmasters to update their lists by visiting the GES website, www.cssps.gov.gh/shsheads, to verify the status of candidates.

“It is just a matter of the headmaster or headmistress going into the system,” he said, explaining that there was an officer sitting behind the computer to update any newly placed student.

He added that if a headmaster or headmistress visited the site and still the candidate’s name was still not there, he or she could contact the GES Headquarters with the numbers provided for heads for attention.

Free means free

The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Secondary and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Dr Yaw Adutwum, said this year’s enrollment into SHS was totally free and any school head caught taking money from any parent would be severely dealt with.

Speaking on Radio Ghana’s Current Affairs programme: “Focus”, Dr Adutwum said the government was determined to give every Ghanaian child access to quality education.

On how to sustain the free SHS policy, he said the Finance Minister would give full details as to how the policy would be sustained, going forward, in the budget statement for next year.

The Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Mr Peter Nortsu, said the policy fell short of what the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government promised Ghanaians during its campaign in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

Discrimination

He said for second and third-year students of SHSs to be left out was discriminatory.

Mr Selorm Brantie of Imani Ghana, a policy think tank, said the government could sustain the policy if the leakages in some public institutions were blocked.

He said Imani Ghana was not against the free SHS programme but was concerned about the government’s failure to give full details of the implementation framework.

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Source: Graphic.com.gh

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