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General News of Saturday, 16 September 2017

Source: peacefmonline.com

Free SHS saga: This is 'unfair' & 'repugnant' - Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt Junior,  Managing Editor,  The Insight NewspaperKwesi Pratt Junior, Managing Editor, The Insight Newspaper

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has sacked two Senior High School headmasters for extorting money from students despite strict directives from the Ministry of Education not to do so.

A statement signed by the Director General of the GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, on Thursday said the two headmasters: Mr Biasu Wisdom of Pentecost SHS and Assistant Headmaster of Daffour SHS, Rev. S.P. Elewokor are ‘relieved’ of their post.

The headmaster of Duffour SHS, Mr. S.C.K Agbakey, will be reprimanded for failing to supervise his subordinate the statement further indicated.

Meanwhile, seven others are to be interdicted pending further investigations into the allegation against them.

During a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s "Alhaji and Alhaji" Saturday, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr described the dismissal of the headmasters as ‘unfair’ and ‘repugnant’.

“I find it extremely unfair because over the past weeks, they (headmasters) have been begging for guidelines…what should we charge and what we should not charge and so on… as at today the guidelines have not been given to them so why won't they make mistakes and if they make mistake why dismiss them…I can't believe it...how is it a crime for headmasters to ask parents to pay hostel fees? (if they don’t get accommodation in the school?”) he quizzed.

According to him, "we were trying to talk to one of the affected headmasters and he told us that he's been warned by the ministry not to speak; you have sacked the person and then you say he can't speak; what kind of society are we building? I find this extremely repugnant...it is just an attempt to create the impression that those who are complaining about the implementation of this programme are just saboteurs. I have heard people call the headmasters corrupt, lazy, thieves. What is the basis for calling them thieves...I think they are just being used as scapegoats and are just being treated unfairly.”

Please listen to the audio below