My Stay is Approved By Ges, Says Koss Headmaster

The headmaster of the Konongo-Odumasi Secondary School (KOSS) Mr. Kwame Ameyaw Yamoah, has explained that the school's Governing Board recommended to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to extend his stay in the school with a year's contract, which ends on December 29 this year, "so that he can oversee the planning towards the school's Golden Jubilee in November."

He was reacting to allegations that he had disregarded a directive from the GES which asked him to retire in February, this year, but he was still hanging onto his post.

Mr. Yamoah, who reluctantly spoke to the Chronicle at the school campus last Thursday, said he had been part of the planning committee for the past two years in preparation for thegolden jubilee, hence that decision. "That aside, you can stay on till 65 years depending on the GES requiring your services," he said.

He said his occupancy of the post is, therefore, in compliance with a year's contract with the GES. The contract, signed by the Director-General, Reverend Ama Afo Blay on January 18, 2003, requires that he holds the fort until the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the school are over.

The headmaster, who refused to talk to this reporter because, according to him, he had been cautioned by the Regional Coordinating Council not to talk to the press, yielded when he was confronted over his continued stay in the school.

The aftermath of the closure and subsequent re-opening of Great KOSS, following student rampage in May, brought in its wake a number of issues.

Allegations abound that the headmaster levied each student ?50,000 for anniversary brochures, ?10,000 per term for its celebrations.

He is also alleged to have dismissed as many as 150 students for not attending extra classes. Even though he denied it and stated that the number was 22, Chronicle gathered that because the dismissal letters were run on stencil, it created panic among the student body.

A Committee of Enquiry set up by the Asante Akim North district chief executive to investigate the disturbances, levied each student ?153,000 to compensate for the loss and damage to the school's property which included 17 computers.

The committee, which was under the chairmanship of Mr. Solomon K. Obeng, a retired Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, also recommended that the students and their parents sign bonds to be of good behaviour, while the alleged perpetrators were dismissed from the school.

However, the committee's decision, Chronicle has gathered, has not gone down well with parents and guardians, who are nonetheless, complying to avoid their wards being sent home.

At the time of the visit of this reporter to the school, parents and students were seen carrying out the directive under tree-shades at the Administration Block. A bird whispered into my ears that over 200 students are yet to report back to school.

The parent's anger stems from the fact that the students who were expelled presumably for allegedly taking part in the rampage are not paying a pesewa.

Many of those who spoke to the Chronicle, but pleaded anonymity, wondered why their wards should be punished with the heavy burden of compensating for the loss, while the dismissed students are left off the hook.

They contend that their apparent docility to comply with the directive "does not mean we approve of it, but to ensure our wards are in school."

But the headmaster stated that the rest of the students are being made to pay "because of their inactivity during the disturbances."

According to him, they should have repulsed the attack (which occurred around 7:00 p.m.). When the Chronicle pointed out to him that they are not trained to confront an apparently spontaneous attack, he replied, "They should at any rate have reported to me."

The Ashanti regional Director of Education, Mr. Kofi Britwum, could not be reached on phone, after persistent calls to his office on Thursday and Friday proved futile, as he was said to have gone to Kumasi High School for an official assignment.