The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) says it will not back down on its demands to ensure smooth running of the various senior high schools in the country until the government sits up.
They also parried the ‘politically motivated’ tag placed on them by the government for complaining about constant delays in the payment of subsidies.
Cecilia Kwakye Coffie, President of CHASS, made these observations at the 54th Annual Delegates’ Conference in Sunyani, the Brong-Ahafo Region.
“They said CHASS was politically motivated to go to town. That was very unfortunate and could be seen as an attempt to undermine the intelligence and the integrity of the entire community of heads of schools and should be treated with the contempt it deserves,” she said.
“We wish to put on record that we are committed to the creation of a conducive environment that allows for effective teaching and learning by our students and to prepare them for global citizenship. What is important is the way forward. How do we address the issue of sustainability of funding SHS without interfering with normal academic work and without stress?” Ms Kwakye Coffie wondered.
According to CHASS, the huge debts incurred due to the government’s inability to pay subsidies had adversely affected smooth running of the schools and sometimes disrupted the academic calendar.
GH¢29 Subsidy
She said CHASS was of the opinion that if the government is not ready for the subsidy, it should be scrapped so that the funding could be directed at less-privileged students.
“It is interesting to note that many of the children who gain admission into public SHS come through the private basic schools where fees for these students were much higher than the boarding fees in the public SHS.
“The difference between the fees paid by parents and the subsidy paid by government is just about less than GH¢30 on the average. The question is if parents are able to pay their full fees, why can’t they pay the GH¢29 difference so that the annual struggle over payment of subsidies would be laid to rest once and for all? Subsidies therefore, for such students, would be channeled towards the payment of full fees for less-endowed children,” Ms Kwakye Coffie proposed.
She said currently, the government has not been able to pay for the Absolved fee and Feeding Grants for the second and third terms and predicted that the situation would be worse in the next academic year.
“We want to remind our authorities that in future such figures should get to parents in good time before schools re-open so that they can plan for the children’s school fees,” she added.
By William Yaw Owusu