The National Council of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) plans to hold a consultative meeting with relevant stakeholders over the suspension of PTA fees in second cycle institutions.
The Ghana Education Service (GES), has announced that it is putting on hold the collection of the dues to streamline all such levies in all Senior High Schools.
It, however, appears some heads of public second cycle schools are bent on taking PTA dues and levies despite the directive to halt its collection.
They say the suspension will aggravate the financial burden on their schools.
But, speaking on OTECFM’s afternoon show, ‘Dwabrem’ on the suspension, National President of the Council, Alexander Yaw Danso said they will meet to discuss the directive.
“The heads still hold onto PTA finances, at the appropriate time I will get you the names of all those school heads and their schools. This is going to give us an opportunity to sit down with the GES, the ministries and other officials to look at the way forward.”
“We were asked to collect our own dues and levies as an association and run the way we wanted it. Some of the school heads are peeved because they are no longer collecting the dues. They [heads] were making use of the dues because there was a circular that these heads should be signatories to the PTA accounts. Now, that they have been asked to wash their hands away from the PTA dues, they are peeved and not prepared to back off PTA activities”, he added.
GES suspends collection of PTA dues in SHSs
The Director General of the GES, Prof. Kwesi Opoku Amankwa told the Daly Graphic that his outfit was concerned with the proliferation of all manner of levies under the guise of PTA dues.
“These levies are defeating the objective of the government in removing cost as a barrier to secondary education in Ghana,” he said
Prof. Amankwa said the “pending the streamlining and review of all these levies”.
“It is the expectation of the management that heads of schools and PTA executives will cooperate in this exercise to ensure that the free SHS programme is successfully implemented.”
The Council Chairman of the GES, Michael Nsowah, also warned that the management of the GES would sanction heads of SHSs/TVET who meddle in PTA activities.
“Heads of SHSs are once again warned that in no circumstance are they to get involved in the collection of PTA dues and levies.”
He urged all students to report to school without reference to PTA activities such as dues and levies.
Regional and district directors of education have also been put on alert to keep a closer eye on second cycle schools.
When the Free Secondary Education policy started, there were complaints that schools had been charging PTA levies to cover items like mosquito nets, brooms, hoes and other implements.
The free SHS policy covers an item called teacher motivation, which the government indicated was to cater for the needs that are often taken care of with PTA levies.
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”.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
