Samuel Agbewode
9 November 2009
Ho — The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has appealed to politicians to refrain from direct interference in schools administrations, since such practices invariably affect the smooth running of the schools.
The association has rather advised politicians to use due processes available, to seek redress for problems.
According to CHASS, this would go a long way to create sound relations between school heads and politicians, in tackling problems that confront schools in the country.
This would in turn help in finding amicable solutions to problems in educational sector.
These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 47th Annual Conference held in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, recently.
The communiqué appreciated the continued efforts of the government in the provision of vehicles to a number of schools, and stressed the need for the gesture to be extended to all Senior High schools (SHS) before the end of this academic year.
The communiqué also lauded the government's upwards adjustment of the feeding cost of students, from Gp80 to GH¢1.20 per head, but reiterated that the amount was woefully inadequate, and must, as a matter of urgency, be further adjusted upwards, to bring it at par with the feeding cost per head meal of the basic schools feeding programme, as well as to reflect current market prices.
The headmasters also urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to speed up the appointment of substantive heads to schools, to avoid the situation where district directors were made to act as heads of schools for long periods, in addition to their duties. To reduce the anxiety of parents and prospective students, and speed up the work of heads of schools in the Computer Selection System Programme exercise, CHASS entreated the GES to allow heads of schools fill available vacancies according to laid down criteria, after the first placement.
The communiqué stated that in view of the West Africa Examinations Council's (WAEC) persistent posting of WAEC results on the internet, long before it gets to schools, heads would be compelled to send examination candidates who still owe fees home, three clear weeks before the start of the exams, until they were fully paid.
It continued that while waiting for the government to make the position of a school head an established post which would attract its salary and allowances to enhance and promote effective leadership, the responsibility allowances of GH¢3 per month for heads of schools, and GH¢1.50 per month for senior housemasters and mistresses, as well as GH¢1.00 per month for heads of departments, should be critically reviewed.
To ensure the successful absorption of the 4th year students of the 2010-2011 academic year, and to solve the serious accommodation problems of schools, the headmasters called on the government to treat as priority, the infrastructural needs of schools, particularly those of deprived schools.
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