Stop taking exam fees in public basic schools – GES to school heads

Acting Director of GES, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has warned public basic schools against demanding fees from students before allowing them to take exams.

This directive follows concerns raised by Eduwatch Africa, a non-governmental organization, over claims of school heads demanding payment of examination or printing fees from parents.

Some school heads have been threatening to bar students from exams if their parents fail to comply with these unauthorized fees.

Eduwatch Africa describes this practice as “illegal and unacceptable”, emphasizing that the government is responsible for financing educational programs under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy.

In an interview on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, the Acting Director of GES, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, reiterated that public basic schools are prohibited from charging students examination fees.

He labeled such actions as unacceptable and warned that any head of school found violating the policy would face sanctions.

Prof. Davis said, “I have requested my team to write to schools heads to inform them that they are not supposed to take exams fee from public school students so they have to desist from doing that. They are not expected to take examinations fee from students, so what they are doing is unacceptable. If we get any head doing that we’ll sanction that head.”