'Stop Prospectus-Guise Exploitation!

Despite senior high education in Ghana is free, most heads of schools have devised cunning ways to exploit parents.

The cunning thievery is being perpetuated through the guise of school prospectus, thereby making the free nature of Senior High School (SHS) education more of a burden to parents.

For most schools, the "willing and highest bidder" to pay the latter for every item on the prospectus, gets their wards admitted. It is in light of the above that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary hopeful for Tain Constituency, Mr. Afful Benjamin Manu, has called for an emergency stakeholder engagement to streamline items parents are mandated by law to buy for their wards. Mr.Afful Manu, who is a tutor at Berekum Presbyterian Senior High, is alarmed by loads of items SHS One student transport to school, therefore, appealing for an immediate reversal of same to ease the burden on parents. This, he said, will encourage parents to enroll their wards in school. The Stars of Africa Montessori Academy proprietor could not understand why heads of senior high schools have resolved to put impediments in the way of students and use their admission to second-cycle institutions as an avenue for ripping-off parents. Mr. Afful Manu's concerns stem from a careful monitoring of some selected prospectus of students from various SHS and the outcome he noted, was repulsive to encourage secondary education in the country. Mr. Afful Manu Benjamin, popularly known as Nsawkawdehyeɛ, vehemently condemned the practice and called on the government to intervene to mitigate its negative effects on secondary education in the country. He attributed the same to parents' feeling that they are being done a favor, hence the reason for cooperating with the schools to protect their wards' admissions. He said due to the ignorance of parents, headmasters/mistresses are leveraging the same to milk and overburden them and at the same time, frustrating the government's free SHS program. "I will be quick to say that there are some items that are school's specific, but the rate at which these are being requested by the schools seems that parents are condoning wrongdoing by the head teachers and mistresses. I will urge the Ghana Education Service to come clear with a list of items the SHS should request for", the Stars of Africa Montessori Academy Proprietor decried. He reiterated the urgent need for the government to step in and stop the illegal activities of heads of schools. Mr. Afful further stated that because parents are cooperating with the schools for their ward's admissions, some headmasters/mistresses have taken it as an opportunity to overburden them and also frustrate the government's free SHS program.