Mark Godfred Domah
THE SUNYANI Municipal Education Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in Bono Region has set up a three-member committee to investigate allegations levelled against the headmistress of Nyamaa Basic School in the Sunyani Municipality of charging one thousand Ghana Cedis as admission fees from pupils and students as schools re-opened.
The Sunyani Municipal Director of Education, Mark Godfred Domah, revealed this to the paper in an interview yesterday.
He said the directorate has already sent a report on the headmistress to the headquarters in Accra as directed by the Ghana Education Service, while a three-member committee comprising the Public Relations Officer of the directorate, the Community Participation Director and the Basic Education Director investigate the allegation.
According to him, the terms of reference include to establish and confirm otherwise of the allegation, to establish to what extent the practice has been going on at the Nyamaa Basic School and other basic schools in the municipality, and how many schools are involved in the practice and range of money charged from the students or parents.
The committee is also to establish other relevant information that will help stop the canker going forward and make recommendation, he told the paper.
According to Mr. Domah, the committee has this week to submit their report for further action.
He further explained that due to the embarrassment caused by the publication, the directorate has met with all school heads in the municipality including, regional unit heads, Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Islamic, SDA among others to advise them to strictly follow laid down regulations of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education as enshrined in policy document and code of ethics.
Other participants of the meeting, he said, included representatives from the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Municipal Chief Executive of Sunyani and a representative from the regional directorate of the GES.
“We are really on our guard. I always advise the heads that under no circumstances should they attempt to run public schools like a private school. We are implementors of national approved policy and anything beyond that is unacceptable and retards progress,” he warned.
He admitted long before the publication, there were some allegations of some heads selling textbooks, saying his outfit has started investigation to establish whether the allegations were true, to take appropriate action.
“We have code of conduct and we are going to follow due process and apply appropriate sanctions if the allegation is found out to be true. The MCE is mad about it. Nobody is happy about it,” he said.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee Sunyani