Education Minister calls for implementation of 30% area admissions
Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, has appealed to the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) to implement the restored 30 percent catchment area admissions.
“The searchlight will be on you as you implement the 30 percent catchment admissions which the President has restored to assuage the sufferings of quite a number of stakeholders in our local communities,” she said.
Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu said this in a speech read for her at the 49th Annual Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in Takoradi.
The four-day conference is under the theme, “Senior High School Education in Ghana: the Fulcrum of national Development”.
She expressed optimism that members of CHASS would be up to the task in the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) as the public senior high schools in the country would soon start admitting fresh students.
Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu told the headmasters and headmistresses to live above reproach in the selection and placement of candidates into senior high schools so that the confidence reposed in them by the Ghana Education Service would not be in vain.
She pledged the government’s support and commitment towards alleviating the challenges that confront heads of schools, particularly senior high schools.
“Senior High School is very crucial in our educational enterprise, as matter of fact; it is the ‘midfield’ of our educational system and must be given the needed attention “she said.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu expressed disdain over the recent revelations at the Public Accounts Committee public sittings on financial accounts of pre-tertiary educational institutions.
“The revelations at the recent Public Accounts Committee on pre-tertiary educational institutions of which senior high schools form an integral part are not the best.
Please, try to address those lapses that reared their ugly heads so that it will not be cited in future Audit Reports”, she said.
The National President of the Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, Mr. Samuel Ofori-Adjei, called for speeding up of educational infrastructure in some senior high schools in view of the high student population.
“Let’s not widen the yawning gap existing between the well-endowed and less-endowed senior high schools but we should rather give more attention to the less-endowed ones so that the pressure on the more endowed schools is reduced,” he said.
Mr. Ofori-Adjei expressed regret about the public spectacle of some of their members on national television recently during the Public Accounts Committee’s sitting for breaching the financial laws, regulations and instructions.
He suggested that backstage probing could have been done and a statement issued instead of parading them on the television to humiliate them.
He said some heads of senior high schools were so traumatized that they regretted taking up the positions.
Mr. Ofori-Adjei said the Association had no problem with the incorrigible ones but the leadership of CHASS could have been brought into the picture to contribute to putting things right.
He also appealed to the Ministry of Education to put in place an automatic adjustment formula to review the components of the government subsidy that needed to be adjusting as and when it becomes necessary.
Source: GNA