Parents of first-year SHS students struggle to meet re-opening date
Parents of first-year Senior High School (SHS) students are facing intense pressure to acquire all the items listed in the prospectus for their children to report to school by today, December 4.
OTECNews checks revealed that parents are moving from one shop to another in an attempt to get all the items their children need for their stay in school.
Some parents, sharing their plight with OTECNews, said the current pressure stems from the delay in the release of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results and the short time they had to prepare for school.https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_ebnxLc2z4
A parent, speaking in local parlance, expressed difficulty, stating that the time between the release of the results and the time they had to buy all the items has put her under pressure.
She said the short notice they were served meant that if she did not have savings to cater for this period, her child would not be able to go to school.
Again, she added that the current economic situation complicated matters, stressing that they should have been given at least a month’s notice.
Another parent said she is now looking for a school for her child. The visibly troubled parents added that she and her spouse had just paid the fees of her other children, and considering the upcoming Christmas festivity, the government should have been considerate.
In the Ashanti Region, parents have also complained about their inability to send their children to school. They say since their children are going to spend only two weeks in school, they are hoping that the government will extend the reopening date.
At Lawra Senior High School in the Upper West Region, although a total of 708 students have been placed in the school, only one student showed up.
Checks also found that, even with that one, the parents complained about the financial difficulty they faced and also pushed for the re-opening date of the school to be extended.
Meanwhile, the head of administrators responsible for ensuring that the students are well settled in schools and there are enough resources in school admit they are fatigued.
President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Rev Father Stephen Owusu Sekyere said, “I knew they were coming even though I feel a bit exhausted.”
“We just vacated; Form One Form Two students who are about to move to Form Two, Form Three vacated on the 30th. So at least if we had about two weeks or more to rest, that would have been very nice but we did not get that one.”
Following the agitations, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum is currently in Parliament to answer question on his outfit’s failure to comply with a directive from Parliament to reconsider the reopening date for first-years in SHS across the country.
