Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh
ANY PUBLIC school head who will sack a student from school due to non-payment of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) levy will not be spared by authorities.
This stern caution was issued by the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, nicknamed ‘Napo’, during a public event held at Fomena on Wednesday.
According to him, the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy, introduced by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, has made education virtually free for students.
In this regard, the minister said it is disheartening and unacceptable for any school head to sack students from school due to non-payment of PTA levy.
He said the huge resources that government is pumping to make the free SHS flourish would go waste if school heads used PTA levy as an excuse to sack students.
Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Fomena on Wednesday, he stated categorically that “No public school should sack students because of PTA levy.”
The minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South, urged parents to report to his office when their wards got sacked from school because of PTA levy.
According to him, through the famous free SHS programme, government is virtually bearing all the cost of students, especially in the secondary schools.
Napo stated that no school head should distract government’s efforts by sacking students from school just because they (students) failed to pay PTA levy.
Touching on other issues, he said the Fomena Hospital project had delayed because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was not committed to the project.
He alleged that former President John Mahama infamously diverted monies earmarked for the construction of the hospital to fund the NDC’s political campaign in 2016.
Napo said President Nana Akufo-Addo, who values the lives of the people of Fomena, had worked tirelessly to secure funding to complete the hospital once-and-for-all.
He, therefore, appealed to the people of Fomena to vote massively to renew the mandate of President Akufo-Addo to complete the hospital and help boost healthcare delivery.
Napo warned Fomena residents that if they mistakenly vote for the NDC “the Fomena Hospital project would be abandoned once again so vote for President Akufo-Addo.”
The Education Minister was part of top government officials currently following President Akufo-Addo on a working tour of the Ashanti Region.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi