Ghana’s government has sacked two headteachers as part of a crackdown on school managers extorting money from parents despite the implementation of the country’s free high school policy.
The policy which was rolled out on Monday ensures that students attending public senior high schools do not pay any fees. The policy is expected to benefit over 400,000 students in the West African nation.
The policy which was a campaign message for the current president, Nana Akufo Addo during Ghana’s presidential elections in 2016 will cost the government over $90 million yearly with that figure expected to go up should the number of students admitted into the schools increase.
Some headteachers have been forced to charge students due to lack of adequate teaching facilities but the government said such acts could potential create confusion over the policy.
Ghana’s education service in a statement on Thursday said a total of seven other school administrators have been interdicted.
Critics of the government have said that the promise of free senior high school for students has not been entirely achieved since not all students in senior high schools are benefiting from the policy this month. Only first year students are due to benefit once they are admitted into any of the public schools in the country.
President Akufo Addo in his 2016 manifesto said his government will “redefine basic education to include Senior High School (SHS), covering vocational, agricultural and technical schools, and make it available for free on a universal basis to all Ghanaians.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
